Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response Between Paired Fingerprick (HemaPEN<sup>®</sup>) and Venepuncture Collected Samples in Children and Adults
Mazarakis et al.
The finding, in our words
This study found moderate to strong correlations between SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels in fingerprick dried blood spots collected using the hemaPEN device and standard venous serum samples from children and adults. The results suggest that this microsampling device offers a reliable alternative to venepuncture for serological surveillance.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study validated a commercial ELISA for measuring measles-specific IgG in capillary dried blood spots from children, finding 100% sensitivity and 96.8% specificity against matched venous serum with 92% overall agreement, then applied the method to 1,588 field-collected samples in Mexico and Nicaragua. The procedure was acceptable to surveyors and participants, showing that dried blood spots are a feasible and accurate means of assessing population immunity to measles in low-resource settings.
The study validated a semi-quantitative protocol for Epstein-Barr virus serology using dried blood spots, demonstrating 98.8% sensitivity and 96.5% specificity compared to paired venous serum samples. The successful validation in a self-sampling cohort confirms the suitability of this patient-centric microsampling approach for large-scale seroprevalence studies and decentralised trials.
Capillary samples collected using dried blood spots and Mitra microsamplers showed strong agreement with venous plasma for quantifying IgG antibodies against most vaccine-preventable diseases. Sensitivity was high for the majority of pathogens, though the study noted that antibody stability declined at room temperature over time, favouring cold storage for longer durations.
Dried blood spot sampling matched venous serum performance for islet autoantibody detection and was considered minimally invasive and convenient by parents and stakeholders, supporting its use for decentralised screening in home or community settings.
Plasma separation cards showed high specificity (99.3%) but moderate sensitivity (87.5%) against EDTA-plasma for HIV-1 viral load monitoring at a 1,000 copies/ml threshold in a South African cohort. Despite favourable usability among healthcare workers, laboratory-reported technical difficulties must be addressed to enable reliable decentralised scale-up in resource-constrained settings.