SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in Sierra Leone, March 2021: a cross-sectional, nationally representative, age-stratified serosurvey

Barrie, Mohamed Bailor; Lakoh, Sulaiman; Kelly, John D.; Kanu, Joseph Sam; Squire, James Sylvester; Koroma, Zikan; Bah, Silleh; Sankoh, Osman; Brima, Abdulai; Ansumana, Rashid; Goldberg, Sarah A; Chitre, Smit; Osuagwu, Chidinma; Maeda, Justin; Barekye, Bernard; Numbere, Tamuno-Wari; Mohammed, Abdulaziz; Mounts, Anthony W.; Blanton, Curtis; Singh, Tushar; Samai, Mohamed; Vandi, Mohamed; Richardson, Eugene T

doi:10.1101/2021.06.27.21259271

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…However, most of seropositives came from the urban city of Bobo-Dioulasso where local seroprevalence was of 4.96% at that time. A higher seroprevalence in urban areas in Africa has been reported previously (23)(24)(25)(26). Apart from urban vs. rural differences, we report significant differences between age groups in SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity (Kruskal-Wallis chi-squared = 16.285, df = 3, p-value < 0.001).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 57%

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and co-infection with malaria during the first wave of the pandemic (the Burkina Faso case)

López-Farfán

Yerbanga

Parres-Mercader

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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Africa accounts for 1.5% of the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 2.7% of deaths, but this low incidence has been partly attributed to the limited testing capacity in most countries. In addition, the population in many African countries is at high risk of infection with endemic infectious diseases such as malaria. Our aim is to determine the prevalence and circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and the frequency of co-infection with the malaria parasite. We conducted serological tests and microscopy examinations on 998 volunteers of different ages and sexes in a random and stratified population sample in Burkina-Faso. In addition, nasopharyngeal samples were taken for RT-qPCR of SARS-CoV-2 and for whole viral genome sequencing. Our results show a 3.2 and a 2.5% of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and PCR positivity; and 22% of malaria incidence, over the sampling period, with marked differences linked to age. Importantly, we found 8 cases of confirmed co-infection and 11 cases of suspected co-infection mostly in children and teenagers. Finally, we report the genome sequences of 13 SARS-CoV-2 isolates circulating in Burkina Faso at the time of analysis, assigned to lineages A.19, A.21, B.1.1.404, B.1.1.118, B.1 and grouped into clades; 19B, 20A, and 20B. This is the first population-based study about SARS-CoV-2 and malaria in Burkina Faso during the first wave of the pandemic, providing a relevant estimation of the real prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and variants circulating in this Western African country. Besides, it highlights the non-negligible frequency of co-infection with malaria in African communities.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 57%

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and co-infection with malaria during the first wave of the pandemic (the Burkina Faso case)

López-Farfán

Yerbanga

Parres-Mercader

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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“…For countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, this range was 0% in a national blood donor study in Malawi conducted in January 2020 31 to 73% in a local household sample in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April 2021. 32 For countries in Western and Middle Africa, this was 3% in a national household sample in Sierra Leone, March 2021, 33 to 87% in a national household sample in Gabon, December 2021. 34…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 infection in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis of standardised seroprevalence studies, from January 2020 to December 2021

et al. 2022

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IntroductionEstimating COVID-19 cumulative incidence in Africa remains problematic due to challenges in contact tracing, routine surveillance systems and laboratory testing capacities and strategies. We undertook a meta-analysis of population-based seroprevalence studies to estimate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Africa to inform evidence-based decision making on public health and social measures (PHSM) and vaccine strategy.MethodsWe searched for seroprevalence studies conducted in Africa published 1 January 2020–30 December 2021 in Medline, Embase, Web of Science and Europe PMC (preprints), grey literature, media releases and early results from WHO Unity studies. All studies were screened, extracted, assessed for risk of bias and evaluated for alignment with the WHO Unity seroprevalence protocol. We conducted descriptive analyses of seroprevalence and meta-analysed seroprevalence differences by demographic groups, place and time. We estimated the extent of undetected infections by comparing seroprevalence and cumulative incidence of confirmed cases reported to WHO.PROSPERO: CRD42020183634.ResultsWe identified 56 full texts or early results, reporting 153 distinct seroprevalence studies in Africa. Of these, 97 (63%) were low/moderate risk of bias studies. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence rose from 3.0% (95% CI 1.0% to 9.2%) in April–June 2020 to 65.1% (95% CI 56.3% to 73.0%) in July–September 2021. The ratios of seroprevalence from infection to cumulative incidence of confirmed cases was large (overall: 100:1, ranging from 18:1 to 954:1) and steady over time. Seroprevalence was highly heterogeneous both within countries—urban versus rural (lower seroprevalence for rural geographic areas), children versus adults (children aged 0–9 years had the lowest seroprevalence)—and between countries and African subregions.ConclusionWe report high seroprevalence in Africa suggesting greater population exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and potential protection against COVID-19 severe disease than indicated by surveillance data. As seroprevalence was heterogeneous, targeted PHSM and vaccination strategies need to be tailored to local epidemiological situations.

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“…For countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, this range was 0% in a national blood donor study in Malawi conducted in January 2020,[29] to 73% in a local household sample in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April 2021. [30] For countries in Western and Middle Africa, this was 3% in a national household sample in Sierra Leone, March 2021,[31] to 87% in a national household sample in Ghana, December 2021. [32]…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 infection in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis of standardised seroprevalence studies, from January 2020 to December 2021

Lewis

Ware

Whelan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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IntroductionEstimating COVID-19 cumulative incidence in Africa remains problematic due to challenges in contact tracing, routine surveillance systems and laboratory testing capacities and strategies. We undertook a meta-analysis of population-based seroprevalence studies to estimate SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Africa to inform evidence-based decision making on Public Health and Social Measures (PHSM) and vaccine strategy.MethodsWe searched for seroprevalence studies conducted in Africa published 01-01-2020 to 30-12-2021 in Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and Europe PMC (preprints), grey literature, media releases and early results from WHO Unity studies. All studies were screened, extracted, assessed for risk of bias and evaluated for alignment with the WHO Unity protocol for seroepidemiological investigations. We conducted descriptive analyses of seroprevalence and meta-analysed seroprevalence differences by demographic groups, place and time. We estimated the extent of undetected infections by comparing seroprevalence and cumulative incidence of confirmed cases reported to WHO. PROSPERO: CRD42020183634.ResultsWe identified 54 full texts or early results, reporting 151 distinct seroprevalence studies in Africa Of these, 95 (63%) were low/moderate risk of bias studies. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence rose from 3.0% [95% CI: 1.0-9.2%] in Q2 2020 to 65.1% [95% CI: 56.3-73.0%] in Q3 2021. The ratios of seroprevalence from infection to cumulative incidence of confirmed cases was large (overall: 97:1, ranging from 10:1 to 958:1) and steady over time. Seroprevalence was highly heterogeneous both within countries - urban vs. rural (lower seroprevalence for rural geographic areas), children vs. adults (children aged 0-9 years had the lowest seroprevalence) - and between countries and African sub-regions (Middle, Western and Eastern Africa associated with higher seroprevalence).ConclusionWe report high seroprevalence in Africa suggesting greater population exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and protection against COVID-19 disease than indicated by surveillance data. As seroprevalence was heterogeneous, targeted PHSM and vaccination strategies need to be tailored to local epidemiological situations.

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SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in Sierra Leone, March 2021: a cross-sectional, nationally representative, age-stratified serosurvey

Cited by 5 publications

References 22 publications

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and co-infection with malaria during the first wave of the pandemic (the Burkina Faso case)

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and co-infection with malaria during the first wave of the pandemic (the Burkina Faso case)

SARS-CoV-2 infection in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis of standardised seroprevalence studies, from January 2020 to December 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis of standardised seroprevalence studies, from January 2020 to December 2021

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