More than 75% of Texans have COVID-19 antibodies, one of the world’s largest assessments finds
A year after launching one of the world’s largest COVID-19 antibody surveys, Texas CARES, public health experts at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) are estimating that over 75% of Texans have COVID-19 antibodies.
Among their other关键发现调查小组,确定平均COVID-19 antibody levels peak about 120 days after infection and may return to undetectable levels as early as 275 to 500 days following infection. Additionally, people who are not vaccinated and were previously infected with COVID-19 have a lower number of antibodies compared with fully vaccinated survey participants.
“Texas CARES data revealed to us that fully vaccinated participants showed significantly higher antibody levels than those with a natural infection only,” saidEric Boerwinkle, PhD, dean, M. David Low Chair in Public Health, and Kozmetsky Family Chair in Human Genetics atUTHealth School of Public Health。“这向我们表明，即使对于那些先前患有Covid-19的感染并开发了抗体的人，疫苗接种也可能提供最高的保护。”
The serological testing assessment, led by a team of public health experts at UTHealth School of Public Health and funded by DSHS, relied on two types of antibody test to help identify what percentage of the Texas population has antibodies in their blood, and likely some degree of protection from COVID-19. These results also helped determine prior infections in individuals who had few or no symptoms.
Participants were asked to complete a brief survey about their health and were then instructed to visit a participating clinic to have their blood drawn for three antibody tests administered several months apart. This allowed the survey team to measure antibody levels over a longer period of time and understand how long immune protection from natural infection and vaccination may last.
得克萨斯州的关心还拥有5至19岁的年轻人中最大的样本之一，参加了Covid-19-19-19s静脉复活调查。数据显示，参加该病毒的3,889名得克萨斯州儿童中有33％以上具有抗体，其中一半以上（50.8％）无症状。近一半（44.9％）的父母报告说，大流行对孩子的心理健康产生了负面影响。
“我们非常感谢所有自愿参加我们调查的德克萨斯人。”詹妮弗·舒福德（Jennifer Shuford），医学博士，MPH，DSHS首席国家流行病学家。“现在，我们对具有不同经验的多样化的德克萨斯人有了更好的了解。德克萨斯州关心的参与者正在帮助我们了解大流行的动力以及我们可以做些什么来结束它。而且我们还没有完成。”
调查小组的目标是在更长的时间内继续遵循抗体水平，并将专注于在得克萨斯州的护理中招募更多的儿童，尤其是来自医疗服务不足的社区的儿童。
随着美国食品和药物管理局最近为COVID-19助推器授予的紧急使用授权，Uthealth和DSHS公共卫生专家希望更好地了解增强疫苗对抗体水平的影响。
Texas CARESis managed by a collaborative team from UTHealth Houston, consisting of public health experts across UTHealth School of Public Health’s six campuses in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Brownsville, and El Paso, and in partnership with DSHS, Clinical Pathology Laboratories, and The University of Texas System.
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