tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Med Virol
. 2024 Mar;96(3):e29529.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.29529. High pre-Delta and early-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence detected in dried blood samples from Kinshasa (D.R. Congo)
Paula Martínez de Aguirre[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Silvia Carlos[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Manuel Pina-Sánchez[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Samclide Mbikayi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Eduardo Burgueño[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Céline Tendobi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Luis Chiva[SUP] 1 [/SUP], África Holguín[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Gabriel Reina[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa have yielded varying results, although authors universally agree the real burden surpasses reported cases. The primary objective of this study was to determine SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among patients attending Monkole Hospital in Kinshasa (D.R. Congo). The secondary objective was to evaluate the analytic performance of two chemiluminescence platforms: Elecsys® (Roche) and VirClia® (Vircell) on dried blood spot samples (DBS). The study population (N = 373) was recruited in two stages: a mid-2021 blood donor cohort (15.5% women) and a mid-2022 women cohort. Crude global seroprevalence was 61% (53.9%-67.8%) pre-Delta in 2021 and 90.2% (84.7%-94.2%) post-Omicron in 2022. Anti-spike (S) antibody levels significantly increased from 53.1 (31.8-131.3) U/mL in 2021 to 436.5 (219.3-950.5) U/mL in 2022 and were significantly higher above 45 years old in the 2022 population. Both platforms showed good analytic performance on DBS samples: sensitivity was 96.8% for IgG (antiN/S) (93.9%-98.5%) and 96.0% (93.0%-98.0%) for anti-S quantification. These results provide additional support for the notion that exposure to SARS-CoV-2 is more widespread than indicated by case-based surveillance and will be able to guide the pandemic response and strategy moving forward. Likewise, this study contributes evidence to the reliability of DBS as a tool for serological testing and diagnosis in resource-limited settings.
Keywords: COVID‐19; DBS; SARS‐CoV‐2; chemiluminescence; seroprevalence; sub‐Saharan Africa.
. 2024 Mar;96(3):e29529.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.29529. High pre-Delta and early-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence detected in dried blood samples from Kinshasa (D.R. Congo)
Paula Martínez de Aguirre[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Silvia Carlos[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Manuel Pina-Sánchez[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Samclide Mbikayi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Eduardo Burgueño[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Céline Tendobi[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Luis Chiva[SUP] 1 [/SUP], África Holguín[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Gabriel Reina[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 38516764
- DOI: 10.1002/jmv.29529
Studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa have yielded varying results, although authors universally agree the real burden surpasses reported cases. The primary objective of this study was to determine SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among patients attending Monkole Hospital in Kinshasa (D.R. Congo). The secondary objective was to evaluate the analytic performance of two chemiluminescence platforms: Elecsys® (Roche) and VirClia® (Vircell) on dried blood spot samples (DBS). The study population (N = 373) was recruited in two stages: a mid-2021 blood donor cohort (15.5% women) and a mid-2022 women cohort. Crude global seroprevalence was 61% (53.9%-67.8%) pre-Delta in 2021 and 90.2% (84.7%-94.2%) post-Omicron in 2022. Anti-spike (S) antibody levels significantly increased from 53.1 (31.8-131.3) U/mL in 2021 to 436.5 (219.3-950.5) U/mL in 2022 and were significantly higher above 45 years old in the 2022 population. Both platforms showed good analytic performance on DBS samples: sensitivity was 96.8% for IgG (antiN/S) (93.9%-98.5%) and 96.0% (93.0%-98.0%) for anti-S quantification. These results provide additional support for the notion that exposure to SARS-CoV-2 is more widespread than indicated by case-based surveillance and will be able to guide the pandemic response and strategy moving forward. Likewise, this study contributes evidence to the reliability of DBS as a tool for serological testing and diagnosis in resource-limited settings.
Keywords: COVID‐19; DBS; SARS‐CoV‐2; chemiluminescence; seroprevalence; sub‐Saharan Africa.