SARS-CoV-2 has caused worldwide disruption, morbidity and mortality. Although several vaccines have been approved by regulatory bodies, many countries have been faced with the issue of vaccine shortages.
CITF Leadership Group member Dr. Mel Krajden and Muhammad Morshed who receives support from the CITF for another project, along with their team at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory, recently evaluated the sensitivity of rapid tests to detect antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in blood samples under different testing settings.
A study published in pre-print designed and executed by CITF scientific advisors, Dr. Jesse Papenburg, Dr. Matthew Cheng and Dr. Cedric Yansouni, evaluated multiple assays that detect antibodies capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They compared classic neutralization assays to surrogate neutralization assays that measure binding between spike’s receptor binding domain (RBD) and the cellular receptor and immunoassays that measure antibodies against RBD.
Dr. Jesse Papenburg, one of the CITF’s scientific advisors, collaborated with researchers from 15 paediatric hospitals in Canada, Iran, and Costa Rica to collect information on symptomatic and asymptomatic children up to 17 years old who had a laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and who were admitted to hospital.