Over 50% kids in Mumbai have antibodies

More than 50 per cent of the paediatric population in Mumbai have Covid-19 antibodies, showed findings from a sero-survey conducted in the city. Seroprevalence implies the presence of virus-fighting antibodies against Sarscov-2.

The sero-survey of SARS-COV-2 infection was conducted by BYL Nair Hospital and Kasturba Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory of BMC on the background of imminent danger of the third wave to the paediatric population.

The survey has found that more than 50 per cent of the paediatric population in health care settings have antibodies to Covid-19. The overall sero-positivity is 51.18 per cent, including 54.36 per cent from the public sector and 47.03 per cent from the private sector. Seropositivity is highest in the age group 10-14 years — 53.43 per cent. While the sero-positivity rate of 1 to 4 years is 51.04 per cent, it is 47.33 per cent for 5 to 9 years, 53.43 per cent for 10 to 14 years, and 51.39 per cent for 15 to 18 years. The overall sero-positivity rate of 1 to 18 years is 51.18 per cent.

Moreover, there is a notable increase in the seropositivity in the paediatric population to SARS-COV-2 in this study as compared to Serosurvey 3 conducted in March 2021, which showed a sero-positivity of 39.4 per cent in the age group of ≤ 18 years. It indicates that a significant proportion of children accessing the health care services were exposed to the virus during the second wave of Covid19.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai decided to do a sero-survey as it is anticipated that the third wave will affect children disproportionately. This sero-survey was conducted during 1st April 2021 to 15th June 2021. These blood samples were made available from the samples received in laboratories for various medical investigations and were transported from public and private laboratories to Kasturba Molecular Laboratory.

Across 24 wards of Mumbai, 2,176 blood samples were collected from pathology laboratories.

In June, a serological surveillance study spearheaded by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had found that seroprevalence among children was 55.7 per cent across five study sites, in comparison to 63.5 per cent among adults.