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Baseline Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Specific Antibodies in Hot Spot Areas of Great Tunis, up to 3 Months Post Disease Onset in Tunisia

Authors :
Alaya, Sonia Dhaouadi
Hejer Letaief
Aicha Hechaichi
Mouna Safer
Rym Moussa
Ridha Bouhali
Fethi Letaief
Latifa Abdelkader
Hamida Ben Salah
Nawel El Mili
Mongi Hammami
Khouloud Talmoudi
Yves Souteyrand
Pierre Nabeth
Mohamed Kouni Chahed
Nissaf Bouafif ép Ben
Source :
Epidemiologia; Volume 4; Issue 2; Pages: 188-201
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2023.

Abstract

The extent of the SARS-CoV-2 circulation and the COVID-19 epidemic in Tunisia three months after virus circulation was unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection among household contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases living in Hot spot areas of Great Tunis, Tunisia by estimating the seroprevalence of antibodies anti SARS-CoV-2 and to identify factors associated to seroprevalence at the first stage of the pandemic in order to guide decision making and to constitute a baseline for further longitudinal analysis of protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2. The National Observatory of New and Emerging Diseases (ONMNE), Ministry of Health Tunisia (MoH), with the support of the Office of the World Health Organization Representative in Tunisia and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO)), conducted a household cross-sectional survey on April 2020 in Great Tunis (Tunis, Ariana, Manouba and Ben Arous). The study was based on the WHO seroepidemiological investigation protocol for SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies (IgG and IgM) were qualitatively detected using a lateral immunoassay that detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein and administered by the interviewers. The included subjects were confirmed COVID-19 cases and their households contacts resided in hot spot areas (cumulative incidence rate ≥ 10 cases/100,000 inhabitants) of Great Tunis. Results: In total, 1165 subjects were enrolled: 116 confirmed COVID-19 cases (43 active cases and 73 convalescents cases) and 1049 household contacts resided in 291 households. The median age of participants was 39.0 with 31 years’ interquartile range (Min = 8 months; Max = 96 years). The sex ratio (M/F) was 0.98. Twenty-nine per cent of participants resided in Tunis. The global crude seroprevalence among household contacts was 2.5% (26/1049); 95% CI 1.6–3.6%, 4.8%; 95% CI 2.3–8.7% in Ariana governorate and 0.3%; 95% CI 0.01%–1.8% in Manouba governorate. In multivariate analysis, the associated factors independently related to seroprevalence were age ≥25 years (aOR = 5.1; 95% CI 1.2–22.0), history of travel outside Tunisia since January 2020 (aOR = 4.6; 95% CI 1.7–12.9), symptomatic illness in the previous four months (aOR = 3.5; 95% CI 1.4–9.0) and governorate of residence (p = 0.02). The low seroprevalence estimated among household contacts in Great Tunis reflect the effect of public health measures early taken (national lockdown, borders closed, remote work), the respect of non-pharmaceutical interventions and the efficacy of COVID-19 contact-tracing and case management at the first stage of the pandemic in Tunisia.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
26733986
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Epidemiologia; Volume 4; Issue 2; Pages: 188-201
Accession number :
edsair.multidiscipl..114376da1c2f5519661e72de71a0b281
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/epidemiologia4020020