Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the poorest region of Brazil: results from a population-based study.
Adriano Antunes de Souza AraújoLucindo José Quintans-JuniorLuana HeimfarthDulce Marta SchimieguelCristiane Bani CorrêaTatiana Rodrigues de MouraRafael Ciro Marques CavalcanteRangel Rodrigues BomfimRenata GrespanLorranny Santana RodriguesDanillo Menezes Dos SantosAyane de Sá ResendeNathanielly de Lima SilvaAnna Clara Ramos da Silva SantosJéssica Maria Dantas AraújoMércia Feitosa de SouzaMarco Aurélio de Oliveira GóesVictor Santana SantosPaulo Ricardo Saquete Martins FilhoPublished in: Epidemiology and infection (2021)
Population-based seroprevalence studies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in low- and middle-income countries are lacking. We investigated the seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in Sergipe state, Northeast Brazil, using rapid IgM-IgG antibody test and fluorescence immunoassay. The seroprevalence was 9.3% (95% CI 8.5-10.1), 10.2% (95% CI 9.2-11.3) for women and 7.9% (IC 95% 6.8-9.1) for men (P = 0.004). We found a decline in the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies according to age, but the differences were not statistically significant: 0-19 years (9.9%; 95% CI 7.8-12.5), 20-59 years (9.3%; 95% CI 8.4-10.3) and ≥60 years (9.0%; 95% CI 7.5-10.8) (P = 0.517). The metropolitan area had a higher seroprevalence (11.7%, 95% CI 10.3-13.2) than outside municipalities (8.0%, 95% CI 7.2-8.9) (P < 0.001). These findings highlight the importance of serosurveillance to estimate the real impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and thereby provide data to better understand the spread of the virus, as well as providing information to guide stay-at-home measures and other policies. In addition, these results may be useful as basic data to follow the progress of COVID-19 outbreak as social restriction initiatives start to be relaxed in Brazil.