All the interested residents of Vilnius and Kaunas cities and districts are invited to test their antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 until 12 May.
The declining infection has left many unanswered questions, which researchers from the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) and Vilnius University (VU) are seeking to answer as part of a joint project funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL) entitled "Investigation of the Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Lithuania by Serological Methods".
In the initial phase of the project, randomly selected individuals were invited to take part in the research, but now anyone in Vilnius and Kaunas cities and districts can participate.
The study aims to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in selected regions of Lithuania by detecting antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S) proteins in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups.
The researchers are looking for answers to whether the incidence of infection differs between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, how the level of antibodies to protein N, the marker of infection, changes with time after infection, and whether and how the level of antibodies specific to proteins N and S differs in different age groups at different times post-infection.
The study uses an innovative, Lithuanian microgel-based assay that provides simultaneous, qualitative detection of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (anti-N IgG) and spike (anti-S IgG) proteins in a low-volume capillary blood sample. What is their significance?
'Anti-S IgG proteins are detected in the blood of both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, whereas anti-N IgG proteins are only detected in the blood of vaccinated individuals. This is important for assessing whether specific antibodies in vaccinated persons have been formed as a result of the vaccine or as a result of contact with the virus itself, even though the disease may not have manifested itself in clinical symptoms and the presence of the virus in the nasopharynx has not been confirmed by PCR", explained the leader of the study Prof. Dr Mindaugas Stankūnas, Professor of the LSMU, who conducts the study.
According to another researcher leading the study, Dr Martynas Simanavičius from the VU Life Sciences Center, there are few SARS-CoV-2 serological monitoring studies both in Lithuania and around the world, which are essential for the future vaccination debate.