Patterns of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity among essential workers in long term care and retirement homes in Ontario, Canada: A descriptive cross-sectional study
Fahim et al.
The finding, in our words
Among staff in long-term care and retirement homes in Ontario, SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence rose from 24% in 2021 to 44% in 2022 and was higher in Black, East and Southeast Asian and other racialised groups, lower in higher income neighbourhoods and among those with paid sick leave, indicating socioeconomic disparities that should inform equity rooted public health interventions.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study found that self-collection of dried blood spots and other samples using at-home kits was a useful and cost-effective method for screening a large cohort for sexually transmitted infections outside a clinic. This demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised, patient-centric sampling for population-level infectious disease surveillance.
Mimiaga et al., Sexually transmitted infections (paywalled) · source ↗
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.
In a pilot mixed-methods study of youth with HIV, mailed HemaSpot-HF kits enabled home-based dried blood spot collection that participants found feasible and acceptable, supporting remote viral load monitoring and a self-management model for decentralised care.
Gurung et al., AIDS and behavior (paywalled) · source ↗
Statewide mail-based serosurveys using dried blood spot cards showed high spike antibody positivity and rising neutralising antibodies over time, with no differences by socio-demographic factors, supporting the feasibility of decentralised self-sampling for population infection surveillance.
This narrative review surveys remote biospecimen collection products for sexual health research, including dried blood spots and volumetric absorptive microsampling, and concludes that successful implementation needs a multidisciplinary, participant-centred team with sufficient time allocated to the complexities of collection procedures and processes.
Horvath et al., AIDS and behavior (paywalled) · source ↗