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Accelerating SARS-CoV-2 SEroprevalence SurveyS Through Dried Blood Spots (ASSESS-DBS)

  • Funded by Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
  • Total publications:0 publications

Grant number: unknown

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Key facts

  • Disease

    COVID-19

  • Start & end year

    N/A

  • Funder

    Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

  • Principal Investigator

    Muhammad Morshed

  • Research Location

    Canada

  • Lead Research Institution

    University of British Columbia

  • Research Priority Alignment

    N/A

  • Research Category

    Pathogen: natural history, transmission and diagnostics

  • Research Subcategory

    Diagnostics

  • Special Interest Tags

    Innovation

  • Study Type

    Non-Clinical

  • Clinical Trial Details

    N/A

  • Broad Policy Alignment

    Pending

  • Age Group

    Not Applicable

  • Vulnerable Population

    Not applicable

  • Occupations of Interest

    Not applicable

Abstract

Phase 4 of BC's Restart Plan requires community immunity but seroprevalence studies of people who are street entrenched, in prison, or live in remote or rural communities is challenging. The most accurate serology tests are lab-based Enzyme-Linked Immuno Assays (EIAs) that use blood drawn from veins, but with people who are not engaged into care, or who have collapsed veins due injection drug use or obesity, it's not a viable option. Point-of-care tests (PoCT) that use blood collected through finger prick (like a glucose test) seems to offer a solution but these tests lack specificity and therefore can't provide an accurate picture. We propose evaluating dried blood spot (DBS) which seems to offer the accuracy of EIAs and the ease of collection of a PoCT to determine BC seroprevalence.