Zar, HJ;
Workman, L;
MacGinty, R;
Botha, M;
Johnson, M;
Hunt, A;
Burd, T;
... Goldblatt, D; + view all
(2025)
Natural immunity and protection against variants in South African children through five COVID-19 waves: A prospective study.
International Journal of Infectious Diseases
, 150
, Article 107300. 10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107300.
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Abstract
Objectives: Children have been largely spared from serious disease through the COVID-19 pandemic despite a high exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Antibody responses to exposure and their role in protecting children from subsequent variant infection remain poorly understood. / Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of children in a South African community through ancestral/Beta/Delta/Omicron BA.1/BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5 SARS-CoV-2 waves (March 2020-October 2022). Health seeking behavior/illness was recorded and postwave serum samples measured for immunoglobulin (Ig) G to spike (S) (CoV2-S-IgG) by electrochemiluminescent immunosorbent assay. To estimate the protective CoV2-S-IgG threshold levels, logistic functions were fit to describe the correlation of CoV2-S-IgG measured before a wave and the probability for seroconversion/boosting thereafter. / Results: Despite little disease, 125 per 366 (34.2%) children (median age 6.7 years [interquartile range 5.99-7.4 years]) were seropositive after wave I, rising to 53.6%, 76.0%, and 96.2% and 99.2% after waves II (Beta), III (Delta), and IV and V (Omicron variants), respectively. CoV2-S-IgG induced by natural exposure protected against subsequent SARS-CoV-2 infection, with the greatest protection for Beta and least for Omicron. The levels of IgG specific for ancestral S antigen that provided a 50% protective threshold for the subsequent wave were lowest for the Beta and highest for the Omicron BA.1/BA.2 wave. In the multivariate analysis, maternal seropositivity (adjusted odds ratio = 2.57 [95% confidence interval: 1.72-3.82]) was strongly associated with child seropositivity. / Conclusion: Children responded robustly to successive waves of SARS-CoV-2, mounting IgG responses to S antigen that were protective against subsequent waves. In the absence of vaccination, almost all children were seropositive after wave V but none were hospitalized, suggesting that natural immunity alone may be sufficient to protect children in a pandemic setting.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Natural immunity and protection against variants in South African children through five COVID-19 waves: A prospective study |
| Location: | Canada |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107300 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107300 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | African, Antibodies, COVID-19, Child, Immunity, Mother, Protective threshold, SARS-CoV-2, Vaccination, Variant |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10201555 |
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