Performance of Immunoglobulin G Serology on Finger Prick Capillary Dried Blood Spot Samples to Detect a SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response
Nikiforuk et al.
The finding, in our words
In British Columbia, finger-prick dried blood spots had 97% specificity and 79% sensitivity for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in unvaccinated groups, rising to 97 to 100% after vaccination, against serum; limited to one jurisdiction, the results support decentralised serosurveillance with self-collected dried blood spots.
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.
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.
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.