Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Italy in September 2019
Table 1 reports anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibody detection according to the time of sample collection in Italy. In the first 2 months, September–October 2019, 23/162 (14.2%) patients in September and 27/166 (16.3%) in October displayed IgG or IgM antibodies, or both.
The first positive sample (IgM-positive) was recorded on September 3 in the Veneto region, followed by a case in Emilia Romagna (September 4), a case in Liguria (September 5), two cases in Lombardy (Milano Province; September 9), and one in Lazio (Roma; September 11). By the end of September, 13 of the 23 (56.5%) positive samples were recorded in Lombardy, three in Veneto, two in Piedmont, and one each in Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Lazio, Campania, and Friuli.
Preprint: Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the prepandemic period in Italy
Image: Jin, Y., Cai, L., Cheng, Z. et al., CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons