1. Implementing Serosurveys in India: Experiences, Lessons Learned, and Recommendations
- Author
-
Alvira Z. Hasan, Muthusamy Santhosh Kumar, Christine Prosperi, Jeromie Wesley Vivian Thangaraj, R. Sabarinathan, V. Saravanakumar, Augustine Duraiswamy, Ojas Kaduskar, Vaishali Bhatt, Gururaj Rao Deshpande, Padinjaremattathil Thankappan Ullas, Gajanan N. Sapkal, Lucky Sangal, Sanjay M. Mehendale, Nivedita Gupta, William J. Moss, Kyla Hayford, and Manoj V. Murhekar
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Adolescent ,India ,Antibodies, Viral ,Measles ,Rubella ,Specimen Handling ,Herd immunity ,Young Adult ,Seroepidemiologic Studies ,Vaccine-Preventable Diseases ,Virology ,Environmental health ,medicine ,Humans ,Serologic Tests ,Child ,Implementation Science ,Community Health Workers ,Potential impact ,Data collection ,Community Participation ,Infant ,virus diseases ,Articles ,Middle Aged ,Census ,medicine.disease ,Infectious Diseases ,Geography ,Community mobilization ,Specimen collection ,Child, Preschool ,Female ,Parasitology - Abstract
Serological surveillance for vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and rubella, can provide direct measures of population immunity across age groups, identify gaps in immunity, and document changes in immunity over time. Rigorously conducted, representative household serosurveys provide high-quality estimates with minimal bias. However, they can be logistically challenging, expensive, and have higher refusal rates than vaccine coverage surveys. This article shares lessons learned through implementing nine measles and rubella household serosurveys in five districts in India—the challenges faced, the potential impact on results, and recommendations to facilitate the conduct of serosurveys. Specific lessons learned arose from challenges related to community mobilization owing to lack of cooperation in certain settings and populations, limitations of outdated census information, nonresponse due to refusal or unavailability during survey enumeration and enrollment, data collection issues, and specimen collection and handling issues. Although some experiences are specific to serosurveys in India, these lessons are generalizable to other household surveys, particularly vaccination coverage and serosurveys conducted in low- and middle-income settings.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF