By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The Swedish Public Health Agency said a study in early March on blood donors from eight regions in the country revealed up to 25 percent of donors in some regions had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

The study showed that 22 percent of blood donors at the national level had antibodies. The incidence among blood donors was highest in the Stockholm region and in Västra Götaland with 25 percent and lowest in Västerbotten with 12 percent.

These levels reflect a history of infection with covid-19 at least ten months back in time. But some groups have also received vaccines, even though we do not consider that it has any major significance for the results when it comes to blood donors in particular, says Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of department and deputy state epidemiologist at the Swedish Public Health Agency.

This compares with a national level of 7 percent detected in December 2020.


The blood donor samples come from adults aged 19-79, where 6 percent in the corresponding age groups at the time of collection had received at least one dose of covid-19 vaccine. The detected antibodies are therefore judged to have been formed primarily as a result of a covid-19 infection.