A new study has found that nearly one-in-seven staff members at St James’s Hospital in Dublin had caught coronavirus by October.

The PRECISE Study, published this evening, checked staff at two Irish hospitals for the antibodies.

Anti-bodies are specialised proteins produced by the body while it is fighting the virus and are only present in people who have had it in the past.

It found that 15% of the participants at St James’s Hospital were carrying them, a figure that jumped to 21% among staff who have daily contact with COVID-19 patients.

At University Hospital Galway meanwhile, just 4.1% of participants displayed the antibodies, with the figure rising to 7.1% for those with daily contact.

The study notes that 9.6% of the St James’s participants had already tested positive - meaning 5.4% (around 164 people) had fought off the virus without ever testing positive.

Some 2.7% of the UHG participants previously tested positive – meaning 1.4% (about 38 people) had battled it without a positive test.

The study noted that this likely meant they were working while unknowingly infectious.

File photo of Galway University Hospital, 18-01-2013. Image: Brian Farrell/RollingNews

In a statement this evening, the HSE National Clinical Director Dr Lorraine Doherty said the study will help the health service respond to the outbreak.

“It is also important to note that antibody positivity cannot be taken to mean a person is immune, and all Infection Prevention and Control measures still need to be followed,” she said.

“The study will be repeated in the springtime to see how seroprevalence changes with successive waves of the pandemic, and how antibody status changes in the individuals who participate both times.

“The second round of testing will also look at vaccine response versus natural infection, given recent commencement of the national vaccination programme.”

Risk

The study found that healthcare assistants are most at risk of contracting COVID-19 in hospitals, followed by nurses and then doctors.

Antibodies were detected among 27% of healthcare assistants, 21% of nurses and 14% of doctors that took part.

The study notes that the difference in the level of antibodies between the two hospitals reflects the “difference in community transmission and diagnosed disease incidence in each geographical area.”

Testing

The virus rate among hospital staff was six times higher than in the communities, based on antibody studies carried out in both cities last year.

The authors said their findings support calls for testing of all staff following outbreaks or the detection of cases linked to hospital settings.

They also called for “mass serial screening of asymptomatic health care workers.”

Some 3042 of the 4692 (65%) staff at St James's took part in the study. Some 2745 of the 4395 (63%) staff at UHG took part.