Do patients infected with human coronavirus before the COVID-19 pandemic have less risk of being infected with COVID-19?

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Şanlidağ İşbilen G., Uysal A. A., Yiğit S., APPAK Ö., Sipahi H., BOZDAYI G., ...Daha Fazla

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences, cilt.54, sa.4, ss.761-765, 2024 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 54 Sayı: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2024
  • Doi Numarası: 10.55730/1300-0144.5846
  • Dergi Adı: Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, CAB Abstracts, MEDLINE, Veterinary Science Database, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.761-765
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: COVID-19, epidemiology, HCoV, multiplex PCR, OC43, prevention
  • Gazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Background/aim: Although seasonal human coronaviruses (HCoVs) have long been recognized as respiratory tract viruses, the newly identified SARS-CoV-2 caused a pandemic associated with severe respiratory failure. We aimed to evaluate the incidence of COVID-19 infection in patients diagnosed in three tertiary teaching hospitals, both with and without prior confirmed HCoV infection, and to compare these cohorts in terms of COVID-19 contraction. Materials and methods: In our study, we examined HCoV PCR-positive cases obtained retrospectively between January 2014 and March 2020 from three University Hospital Microbiology Laboratories (Cohort 1), as well as PCR-negative patients detected in the same PCR cycle as the positive cases (Cohort 2). We also evaluated subgroups of HCoV-positive cases. Results: There was no difference in COVID-19 contraction rates between Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 (p = 0.724). When previous HCoV subgroups of COVID-19-positive patients were examined, no significant difference was found between the betacoronavirus and alphacoronavirus subgroups (p = 0.822), among the four groups (NL63, 229E, OC43, HKU-1) (p = 0.207), or between the OC43 subgroup and the other groups (p = 0.295). Conclusion: Being previously infected with HCoV did not provide protection against COVID-19 in our study group. We suggest evaluating the possible effect of previous OC43 infection on COVID-19 contraction in larger cohorts.