By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Feb. 26: More than 45 per cent frontliners working at various hospitals across the Kathmandu Valley had developed COVID-19 antibodies by December, according to a Sero-epidemiology study carried out by the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC).
According to the study, it was found that the adjusted prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies of Kathmandu Valley was 45.3 per cent. The study, ‘Sero-epidemiology of COVID-19 in Kathmandu Valley’, carried out among 800 health workers serving at 20 big hospitals across the Valley, showed that 36 per cent of the nurses, 18 per cent of the doctors, 22 per cent of administrative staff, 7 per cent lab and pharmacy technicians, and 17 per cent supporting staffers surveyed had developed such antibodies.
According to the NHRC, the study was carried out to measure the extent of infection among healthcare workers, and supporting staff working as frontliners at the time of pandemic.
NHRC in its study has mentioned that samples were collected from health workers of Annapurna Neurological Institute and Allied Sciences, Bir Hospital, Nepal Eye Hospital, Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital, Hams Hospital, Civil Hospital, Venus Hospital, Nepal Mediciti Hospital, and Alka Hospital.
Similarly, samples were also collected from Nepal-Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital, KIST Medical College Teaching Hospital, Nepal Cancer Hospital, Star Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Grande International Hospital, Kanti Children’s Hospital, Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, Om Hospital, Nepal APF Hospital and Model Hospital Kirtipur. The study also showed that results of PCR tests didn’t determine the presence of antibodies among the participants. Only76. 2 per cent of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 (using PCR tests) were found to have developed antibodies.
Similarly, 25.3 per cent participants, who tested negative in the PCR test, had developed antibodies, and 37.4 per cent of the participants who had developed antibodies had not undergone a PCR test.