TY - JOUR
T1 - Seroprevalence of specific antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 from hotspot communities in the Dominican Republic
AU - Paulino-Ramirez, Robert
AU - Baez, Amado Alejandro
AU - Degaudenzi, Alejandro Vallejo
AU - Tapia, Leandro
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - Seroprevalence surveys are of utmost importance to assess the proportion of a population that has developed antibodies against a newly introduced virus and could therefore potentially exhibit immunologic protection against subsequent infection. This study aims to understand the distribution of IgM and IgG antibodies in the Dominican Republic. We surveyed a total of 12,897 participants between April and June 2020 in 10 provinces of the Dominican Republic. Survey efforts in emerging hotspots yielded a positivity for all participants of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM of 3.8% and IgG of 5.4%, indicating that the pathogen was in circulation before the identification of those particular communities as hotspots. We found important age differences between participants who participated in the serological study where a higher mean age is associated IgM positivity and a lower age with IgG positivity. Our results highlight the need for strategies that involve community-based seroprevalence monitoring. These should preclude syndromic case identification. Also, the higher mean age of IgM-positive participants suggests that strategies based on syndromic surveillance could identify hotspots at later phases, based on the number of cases detected at the healthcare center, as such community-based seroprevalence monitoring may be an effective intervention for future outbreaks.
AB - Seroprevalence surveys are of utmost importance to assess the proportion of a population that has developed antibodies against a newly introduced virus and could therefore potentially exhibit immunologic protection against subsequent infection. This study aims to understand the distribution of IgM and IgG antibodies in the Dominican Republic. We surveyed a total of 12,897 participants between April and June 2020 in 10 provinces of the Dominican Republic. Survey efforts in emerging hotspots yielded a positivity for all participants of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM of 3.8% and IgG of 5.4%, indicating that the pathogen was in circulation before the identification of those particular communities as hotspots. We found important age differences between participants who participated in the serological study where a higher mean age is associated IgM positivity and a lower age with IgG positivity. Our results highlight the need for strategies that involve community-based seroprevalence monitoring. These should preclude syndromic case identification. Also, the higher mean age of IgM-positive participants suggests that strategies based on syndromic surveillance could identify hotspots at later phases, based on the number of cases detected at the healthcare center, as such community-based seroprevalence monitoring may be an effective intervention for future outbreaks.
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U2 - 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0907
DO - 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0907
M3 - Article
C2 - 33094710
AN - SCOPUS:85097211240
SN - 0002-9637
VL - 103
SP - 2343
EP - 2346
JO - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
JF - American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
IS - 6
ER -