Vaccination and hybrid immunity is associated with SARS-CoV-2 protection but not shedding duration in rural Guatemalan households.
9 affiliations
- 1Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.
- 2Department of Epidemiology and Center for Global Health, Colorado School of Public Health, 13199 East Montview Blvd, Aurora, CO, USA.
- 3Center for Human Development, Fundacion para la Salud Integral de los Guatemaltecos, FSIG, Retalhuleu, Guatemala.
- 4La Comisión Presidencial de Atención a la Emergencia COVID-19 (Coprecovid), Guatemala City, Guatemala.
- 5Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13123 E. 16th Ave., Aurora, CO, USA.
- 6Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA. [email protected].
- 7Department of Epidemiology and Center for Global Health, Colorado School of Public Health, 13199 East Montview Blvd, Aurora, CO, USA. [email protected].
- 8Center for Human Development, Fundacion para la Salud Integral de los Guatemaltecos, FSIG, Retalhuleu, Guatemala. [email protected].
- 9Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13123 E. 16th Ave., Aurora, CO, USA. [email protected].
Abstract
Background
Essential agricultural workers in Central America and their households faced a high force of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we evaluated if pre-existing seropositivity and vaccination (hybrid immunity) influenced SARS-CoV-2 infection risk and duration of shedding in an agricultural community in rural Guatemala.Methods
Individuals from 70 households were enrolled in a community cohort. From September 2021 to December 2022, all participants reported symptoms twice-weekly and provided saliva weekly for SARS-CoV-2 RNA testing by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Following detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a household, all enrolled household members provided saliva tested three times weekly for four weeks for RT-PCR testing to determine the duration of viral shedding among infected participants. We selected 119 SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive individuals and 101 month-matched controls to measure nucleocapsid IgG and Omicron neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers.Results
Compared to uninfected controls, SARS-CoV-2 cases were more frequently female (60.5% vs. 48.5%, p = 0.08), had fewer vaccine doses (p = 0.07), and were less likely to have hybrid immunity (p = 0.08). Compared to controls, SARS-CoV-2 cases had lower median titers of nucleocapsid IgG (cutoff index [COI] = 9.6 vs. 23.6, p = 0.12) and Omicron NAb (28.4 vs. 50.4, p = 0.15). SARS-CoV-2 cases also had lower NAb than controls among those vaccinated with 1 (16.1 vs. 182.7, p = 0.01), 2 (11.9 vs. 87.0, p = 0.04), or 3 doses (13.4 vs. 232.5, p = 0.004), and those considered up-to-date on vaccination (13.1 vs. 155.6, p = 0.0001). Nucleocapsid IgG and Omicron NAb were similar between individuals with short (≤ 7 days) vs. long (> 7 days) viral shedding durations.Conclusions
In a household cohort of Guatemalan agricultural workers, cumulative vaccine doses associated with lower odds of infection. Among those previously vaccinated, lower titers of nucleocapsid IgG and Omicron NAb were associated with elevated infection risk, highlighting the importance of hybrid immunity in COVID-19 protection in this population.
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BibTeX
@article{barrett2026vaccination,
title = {{Vaccination and hybrid immunity is associated with SARS-CoV-2 protection but not shedding duration in rural Guatemalan households.}},
author = {Bradley S Barrett and Molly M Lamb and Kejun Guo and Diva Mirella Calvimontes Barrientos and Neudy Rojop and Claire Bradley and Hashem Anabtawi and Kareen Arias and Claudia Paiz and Julio Del Cid-Villatoro and Edwin J Asturias and Mario L Santiago and Daniel Olson},
journal = {BMC infectious diseases},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12879-026-14053-4},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958073},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Vaccination and hybrid immunity is associated with SARS-CoV-2 protection but not shedding duration in rural Guatemalan households.
AU - Bradley S Barrett
AU - Molly M Lamb
AU - Kejun Guo
AU - Diva Mirella Calvimontes Barrientos
AU - Neudy Rojop
AU - Claire Bradley
AU - Hashem Anabtawi
AU - Kareen Arias
AU - Claudia Paiz
AU - Julio Del Cid-Villatoro
AU - Edwin J Asturias
AU - Mario L Santiago
AU - Daniel Olson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - BMC infectious diseases
DO - 10.1186/s12879-026-14053-4
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958073
AB - Background Essential agricultural workers in Central America and their households faced a high force of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we evaluated if pre-existing seropositivity and vaccination (hybrid immunity) influenced SARS-CoV-2 infection risk and duration of shedding in an agricultural community in rural Guatemala.Methods Individuals from 70 households were enrolled in a community cohort. From September 2021 to December 2022, all participants reported symptoms twice-weekly and provided saliva weekly for SARS-CoV-2 RNA testing by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Following detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a household, all enrolled household members provided saliva tested three times weekly for four weeks for RT-PCR testing to determine the duration of viral shedding among infected participants. We selected 119 SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive individuals and 101 month-matched controls to measure nucleocapsid IgG and Omicron neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers.Results Compared to uninfected controls, SARS-CoV-2 cases were more frequently female (60.5% vs. 48.5%, p = 0.08), had fewer vaccine doses (p = 0.07), and were less likely to have hybrid immunity (p = 0.08). Compared to controls, SARS-CoV-2 cases had lower median titers of nucleocapsid IgG (cutoff index [COI] = 9.6 vs. 23.6, p = 0.12) and Omicron NAb (28.4 vs. 50.4, p = 0.15). SARS-CoV-2 cases also had lower NAb than controls among those vaccinated with 1 (16.1 vs. 182.7, p = 0.01), 2 (11.9 vs. 87.0, p = 0.04), or 3 doses (13.4 vs. 232.5, p = 0.004), and those considered up-to-date on vaccination (13.1 vs. 155.6, p = 0.0001). Nucleocapsid IgG and Omicron NAb were similar between individuals with short (≤ 7 days) vs. long (> 7 days) viral shedding durations.Conclusions In a household cohort of Guatemalan agricultural workers, cumulative vaccine doses associated with lower odds of infection. Among those previously vaccinated, lower titers of nucleocapsid IgG and Omicron NAb were associated with elevated infection risk, highlighting the importance of hybrid immunity in COVID-19 protection in this population.
SN - 1471-2334
ER -