Schoenhals Matthieu, Rabenindrina Niry, Rakotondramanga Jean Marius, Dussart Philippe, Randremanana Rindra, Heraud Jean-Michel, Andriamandimby Soa Fy, Sahondranirina Paquerette Hanitriniala, Vololoniaina Manuela Christophère Andriamahatana, Randriatsarafara Fidiniana Mamy, Rasolofo Voahangy, Randriamanantany Zely Arivelo, Spiegel André
Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Madagascar.
Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Madagascar.
EBioMedicine. 2021 Jun;68:103419. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103419. Epub 2021 Jun 4.
The incidence of the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic in Africa seems to be different from that of the rest of the world, however its true extent is probably underestimated. Conducting population based sero-surveys during the epidemic has moreover been extremely challenging, driving our group and others to study blood donor samples.
We collected regional epidemiological COVID-19 surveillance data, and simultaneously monitored anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalences monthly throughout the epidemic in 5 major Region-associated Blood Transfusion Centres of Madagascar over a period of 9 months.
Soon after attaining the first epidemic peaks between May and August 2020, both crude and population-weighted test-performance-adjusted seroprevalences of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was in Malagasy blood donors rapidly increased up to over 40% positivity.
These findings suggest a high cumulative incidence of infection and seroconversion, which may have contributed to the observed deceleration of infection rates, but was not sufficient to prevent the second epidemic wave that struck Madagascar in Spring 2021.
This project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development.
2020年非洲新冠疫情的发病率似乎与世界其他地区不同，但其实际规模可能被低估。此外，在疫情期间开展基于人群的血清学调查极具挑战性，促使我们团队及其他团队研究献血者样本。
我们收集了地区新冠疫情监测数据，并在9个月的时间里，每月同时监测马达加斯加5个主要地区相关输血中心在整个疫情期间的抗SARS-CoV-2抗体血清阳性率。
在2020年5月至8月达到首个疫情高峰后不久，马达加斯加献血者中抗SARS-CoV-2抗体的粗血清阳性率和经人群加权的检测性能调整后的血清阳性率迅速上升至超过40%的阳性率。
这些发现表明感染和血清转化的累积发病率很高，这可能是观察到的感染率下降的原因之一，但不足以防止2021年春季袭击马达加斯加的第二波疫情。
本项目由美国国际开发署资助。
