Publications by authors named "Dennis Odhiambo"
Women infected during pregnancy with TORCH (Toxoplasmosis, Other, Rubella, Cytomegalovirus, and Herpes simplex viruses) pathogens have a higher risk of adverse birth outcomes including stillbirth / miscarriage because of mother-to-child transmission. To investigate these risks in pregnant women in Kenya, we analyzed serum specimens from a pregnancy cohort study at three healthcare facilities. A sample of 481 participants was selected for TORCH pathogen antibody testing to determine seroprevalence.
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- The study investigates SARS-CoV-2 exposure in two distinct populations in Kenya—one urban (Kibera) and one rural (Asembo)—by measuring seroprevalence at two different times in 2021.
- Results showed an increase in seroprevalence from March to June/July 2021, with urban Kibera reaching 63.9% and rural Asembo 48.7%, highlighting significant geographical disparities.
- The low vaccination rates at the time (only 1.2% and 1.6%) indicate a need for strengthened public health measures to combat further spread of the virus.
Urban informal settlements may be disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to overcrowding and other socioeconomic challenges that make adoption and implementation of public health mitigation measures difficult. We conducted a seroprevalence survey in the Kibera informal settlement, Nairobi, Kenya, to determine the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Members of randomly selected households from an existing population-based infectious disease surveillance (PBIDS) provided blood specimens between 27 November and 5 December 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The lower than expected COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in Africa has been attributed to multiple factors, including weak surveillance. This study estimated the burden of SARS-CoV-2 infections eight months into the epidemic in Nairobi, Kenya.
Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted using multi-stage random sampling to select households within Nairobi in November 2020.
Acute Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has not been confirmed in Kenya. In 2018, we used specimens collected in a 2013 dengue serosurvey study in Mombasa to test for ZIKV IgM. We confirmed specific ZIKV IgM positivity in 5 persons.
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