[Determination and comparison of anti-SARS antibody in children and adults]

To investigate the positive rate of anti-SARS antibody in children and adults without SARS, 197 paediatric patients under 14 years old from inpatient and outpatient department of our hospital, 156 healthy children pupils from primary school, 453 adult patients over 18 years old from inpatient and outpatient department of our hospital and other 502 healthy adult blood donors were selected. Anti-SARS antibodies were determined by anti-SARS specific antibody detection kit and ELISA method. The results showed that both the positive rates of IgG antibody in paediatric patients and healthy children were about 2% (4/197 and 3/156), while the positive rates in adult patients and healthy adults were about 0.2% (1/453 and 1/502). The difference between the positive rates of children and adults was significant (chi(2) = 11.61, P < 0.001). IgM antibody was negative in all the samples. It is concluded that the anti-SARS IgG antibody positive rate in children was obvious higher than that in adults. This may be the cause why the cases with SARS in children is much less than in adults.