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Project

The effectiveness of the preventive measures in primary care against SARS-CoV-2 using validated, non-invasive highly sensitive serological testing

Primary health care providers (PHCPs) like general practitioners (GPs) and their co-workers manage the vast majority of COVID-19 and other patients and keep off the pressure from hospitals. Safeguarding PHCPs' capacity during outbreaks is vital, but currently evidence is lacking on 1. how many PHCPs get infected/diseased in our country, 2. the rate at which this happens, 3. their clinical spectrum, 4. their risk factors and 5. the effectiveness of the measures to prevent this from happening. These questions need answers soon to inform policy makers.We also need more accurate (sensitive!) tests of the immune response. For this, we will evaluate a novel microfluidic dried blood spot (DBS) sampling method and digital ELISA. DBS by fingerpricking is a promising, minimally invasive and transmission safe option for blood (self-)sampling, and already applicable in a multitude of areas. In a subgroup of participants, we will compare test accuracy using the easy-to-use novel DBS method, which further minimises the potential risks of contamination and more precisely meters the required blood volume, to standard DBS.
Date:1 Jun 2020 →  31 May 2021
Keywords:PRIMARY CARE, COVID-19
Disciplines:Microbial diagnostics, Infectious diseases