July 8, 2020

An Evaluation of COVID-19 Serological Assays Informs Future Diagnostics and Exposure Assessment

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

• In a comparison of eight SARS-CoV-2 serological assays, GeurtsvanKessel et. al found that the Wantai ELISA for detecting total Ig and IgM antibodies (Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd., China) had the best overall performance. The Wantai ELISA had a specificity of 99% and sensitivities of 99% for IgG and 90% IgM antibodies, and was able to detect functional antibodies in different stages and severity of disease. [EDITORIAL NOTE: Assessment of sensitivity was based on samples confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies by PRNT50. Therefore these should be considered estimates of the analytic sensitivity rather than the clinical sensitivity] 

GeurtsvanKessel et al. (July 4, 2020). An Evaluation of COVID-19 Serological Assays Informs Future Diagnostics and Exposure Assessment. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17317-y