Seroprevalence of dengue, Zika, chikungunya and Ross River viruses across the Solomon Islands

Russell, Tanya L.; Horwood, Paul F.; Harrington, Humpress; Apairamo, Allan; Kama, Nathan; Bobogare, Albino; MacLaren, David; Burkot, Tom

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009848

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Anti-ZIKV antibodies were found in 66% of the Cook Island test collective and in 52% of the Vanuatu specimens. Refer to [35] for a comparable presentation of a seroprevalence study in the Solomon Islands.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dengue Virus and Zika Virus Seroprevalence in the South Pacific Populations of the Cook Islands and Vanuatu

Saretzki,

Dobler,

Iro

et al. 2024

Viruses

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Arboviral diseases are serious threats to global health with increasing prevalence and potentially severe complications. Significant arthropod-borne viruses are the dengue viruses (DENV 1-4), the Zika virus (ZIKV), and the chikungunya virus (CHIKV). Among the areas most affected is the South Pacific Region (SPR). Here, arboviruses not only cause a high local burden of disease, but the region has also proven to contribute to their global spread. Outpatient serum samples collected between 08/2016 and 04/2017 on three islands of the island states of Vanuatu and the Cook Islands were tested for anti-DENV- and anti-ZIKV-specific antibodies (IgG) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). ELISA test results showed 89% of all test sera from the Cook Islands and 85% of the Vanuatu samples to be positive for anti-DENV-specific antibodies. Anti-ZIKV antibodies were identified in 66% and 52%, respectively, of the test populations. Statistically significant differences in standardized immunity levels were found only at the intranational level. Our results show that in both the Cook Islands and Vanuatu, residents were exposed to significant Flavivirus transmission. Compared to other seroprevalence studies, the marked difference between ZIKV immunity levels and previously published CHIKV seroprevalence rates in our study populations is surprising. We propose the timing of ZIKV and CHIKV emergence in relation to recurrent DENV outbreaks and the impact of seasonality as explanatory external factors for this observation. Our data add to the knowledge of arboviral epidemics in the SPR and contribute to a better understanding of virus spread, including external conditions with potential influence on outbreak dynamics. These data may support preventive and rapid response measures in the affected areas, travel-related risk assessment, and infection identification in locals and returning travelers.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blue: DENV, orange: ZIKV. Single-color-filled area represents samples that were positive for the respective virus alone; hatched shading indicates samples that were positive for both Flaviviruses (DENV and ZIKV).Refer to[35] for a comparable presentation of a seroprevalence study in the Solomon Islands.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dengue Virus and Zika Virus Seroprevalence in the South Pacific Populations of the Cook Islands and Vanuatu

Saretzki,

Dobler,

Iro

et al. 2024

Viruses

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Direct detection of dengue cases can be complicated by the fact that (i) dengue infections are often asymptomatic, (ii) when symptomatic, clinical signs and symptoms can be very similar to other arboviruses such as Zika or Chikungunya and (iii) viremia can be short lived or decreasing when symptoms appear, opening only a short window for molecular confirmation [ 56 , 79 , 80 ]. For all these reasons, dengue surveillance is another field in which serology has been informative.…”

Section: Real-life Examples and Public Health Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another study in the Solomon Islands used a cross-sectional survey to detect IgG for four viruses with overlapping symptoms (Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya and Ross River Virus) and to establish their relative burden [ 80 ]. The results showed that Dengue and Ross River Virus had the highest burden on the islands and highlighted the presence of Ross River Virus, even though cases had not been reported prior to the study.…”

Section: Real-life Examples and Public Health Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Serology as a Tool to Assess Infectious Disease Landscapes and Guide Public Health Policy

Haselbeck

Prifti

et al. 2022

Pathogens

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Understanding the local burden and epidemiology of infectious diseases is crucial to guide public health policy and prioritize interventions. Typically, infectious disease surveillance relies on capturing clinical cases within a healthcare system, classifying cases by etiology and enumerating cases over a period of time. Disease burden is often then extrapolated to the general population. Serology (i.e., examining serum for the presence of pathogen-specific antibodies) has long been used to inform about individuals past exposure and immunity to specific pathogens. However, it has been underutilized as a tool to evaluate the infectious disease burden landscape at the population level and guide public health decisions. In this review, we outline how serology provides a powerful tool to complement case-based surveillance for determining disease burden and epidemiology of infectious diseases, highlighting its benefits and limitations. We describe the current serology-based technologies and illustrate their use with examples from both the pre- and post- COVID-19-pandemic context. In particular, we review the challenges to and opportunities in implementing serological surveillance in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which bear the brunt of the global infectious disease burden. Finally, we discuss the relevance of serology data for public health decision-making and describe scenarios in which this data could be used, either independently or in conjunction with case-based surveillance. We conclude that public health systems would greatly benefit from the inclusion of serology to supplement and strengthen existing case-based infectious disease surveillance strategies.

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“…The Solomon Islands is an archipelagic state in the southwest Pacific Ocean just northeast of Australia. Arboviral disease outbreaks (notably dengue) are common in the Solomon Islands, with several significant events affecting the nation in recent years (Cao-Lormeau et al 2014;Darcy et al 2001;Mangum et al 2018;Matthews et al 2022;Nogareda et al 2013;Russell et al 2022). In 2016/17, with 12,329 suspected cases, 877 hospitalisations, and 16 deaths, the Solomon Islands experienced the largest dengue outbreak on record in the Pacific islands (Craig et al 2018b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen Science for Enhanced Dengue Vector Surveillance in Solomon Islands: A Methods Paper

Craig,

Panda,

Palapu

et al. 2024

CSTP

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Arthropod-borne arboviral diseases—including dengue, Zika, and chikungunya—place a substantial burden on the health of populations, globally. Dengue alone is endemic in more than 100 countries and causes more than 96 million symptomatic cases and approximately 40,000 deaths annually. The recent surge in arboviral disease outbreaks, coupled with the World Health Organization’s newly published vector control guidelines, accentuates the imperative to understand the dispersion of disease-carrying mosquitoes across diverse spatial and temporal scales. However, traditional surveillance mechanisms often fall short because of workforce limitations, logistical complexities, jurisdictional boundaries, and budgetary constraints, especially in low- and low-middle-income countries. In this article, we systematically report the design, implementation, and iterative enhancement of a groundbreaking school-based citizen science initiative for augmenting mosquito surveillance in the Solomon Islands. Key reflections encompass the initiative’s role in supporting routine government-led disease vector monitoring, sustainability through integration and fostering participant engagement, and the amalgamation of citizen-collected data with government surveillance activities. The article also discusses the impact of the citizen science initiative with regard to the Solomon Islands’ pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our findings underscore the potential of citizen science methods to support and extend public health surveillance activities and to serve as a community-engagement-for-behaviour-change tool in resource-constrained contexts.

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Seroprevalence of dengue, Zika, chikungunya and Ross River viruses across the Solomon Islands

Cited by 5 publications

References 58 publications

Dengue Virus and Zika Virus Seroprevalence in the South Pacific Populations of the Cook Islands and Vanuatu

Dengue Virus and Zika Virus Seroprevalence in the South Pacific Populations of the Cook Islands and Vanuatu

Serology as a Tool to Assess Infectious Disease Landscapes and Guide Public Health Policy

Citizen Science for Enhanced Dengue Vector Surveillance in Solomon Islands: A Methods Paper

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