BACKGROUND: Many rapid serological tests for SARS-CoV-2 have been developed or use, but lost have only been validated on a few samples, and none provide medical practitioners with an easy-to-use, self-contained, bedside test with high accuracy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two-hundred fifty-six sera from 101 patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive RT-PCR) and 50 control sera were tested for IgM/IgG using the NG-Test IgM-IgG COVID all-in-one assay. The seroconversion dynamic was assessed by symptom onset and day of RT-PCR diagnosis. RESULTS: Among the SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, positive IgG and/or IgM result was observed for 67.3% of patients (68/101), including 17 (16.8%) already positive at the day of RT-PCR, and 51 (50.5%) with observable seroconversion, and 32.7% (33/101) remained negative as subsequent sampling was not possible due to patient discharge or death. The sensitivity increased with the delay between onset of symptoms and sampling, going from 29.1%, 78.2% and 86.5% for the time periods of 0-9-, 10-14- and >14-days after the onset of symptoms, respectively. Cumulative sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value and Negative Predictive Value were 97·0%, 100%, 100% and 96·2%, respectively 15-days after the onset of symptoms. No difference in seroconversion delay was observed regardless of whether patients received ventilation. CONCLUSIONS: The NG-test is a bedside serological assay that could serve as a complementary source of diagnostic information to RT-PCR and chest imaging. It may also be useful to monitor immunological status of medical and non-medical workers during the ongoing pandemic, and the general population after social distancing measures have eased.
Rapid Determination of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Using a Bedside, Point-of-Care, Serological Test