Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a public health emergency in all sectors of society, including universities and other academic institutions in Cameroon. However, little is known concerning the real prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections among student communities during the second wave of infection in Cameroon. This study aimed to estimate SARS-CoV-2 antibodies seroprevalence among participants in a university community in Cameroon.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2021 in 547 students aged ≥18 years during a mass diagnostic campaign at the School of Health Sciences of the Catholic University of Central Africa (ESS/UCAC). The anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody screening was done using the Panbio™ COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Diagnostic Test.
Results: The overall seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 27%, of which 89.9% ( 133) was IgG, 6.7% ( 10) IgM and 3.4% ( 5) IgG/IgM positive. The undergraduate students represented 79% (432/547) of the total population and were highly positive with anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies 30% (130/432) as compared with postgraduate students 20% (23/115). The total antibody seropositivity was higher in males (34.4%) than females (24.9%). Several factors were associated with an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence including the male gender (OR: 1.61 [95% confidence interval, CI 1.0-2.4]), specialization to medical laboratory (OR: 2.8 [95% CI 1.1-7.1]) and nursing sciences (OR: 2.6 [95% CI 1.1-6.2]).
Conclusion: Our findings point to extensive and underreported circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in a university community during the second wave of infection in Cameroon, which likely resulted in artificially low case counts.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/irv.13222 | DOI Listing |
J Infect Dis
January 2025
Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Background: The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants poses a new challenge for the treatment of immunocompromised patients against COVID-19. In this context, high titer COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) is one of the few available therapeutics for these patients. We have revisited the selection of CCP samples and its efficacy against Omicron XBB.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Immunol
January 2025
Institute for Infection Research and Vaccine Development (IIRVD), Center for Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Introduction: Vaccine platforms such as viral vectors and mRNA can accelerate vaccine development in response to newly emerging pathogens, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the differential effects of platform and antigen insert on vaccine immunogenicity remain incompletely understood. Innate immune responses induced by viral vector vaccines are suggested to have an adjuvant effect for subsequent adaptive immunity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMater Sociomed
January 2024
Department of Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Background: Hypothetically, PPE played an estimated influential role in preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission among HCWs before immune-prophylaxis by vaccination in BH. Objective: This research aims to determine the relationship between PPE use and the serological response to SARS-COV-2 among HCWs.
Methods: The sample contained 127 COVID-19 outpatients with an average age of 43.
Immun Ageing
January 2025
Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, 9, 3721MA, The Netherlands.
Background: As older age and having certain comorbidities can influence humoral responses to vaccination, we studied antibody responses after the COVID-19 booster campaigns in nursing home (NH) residents.
Methods: In a two year longitudinal study with Dutch NH residents (n = 107), aged 50 years and over, we monitored antibody responses in serum prior to and after vaccination with a third, fourth BNT162b2 (wild-type; WT), and a BNT162b2 bivalent (WT/OMI BA.1) fifth vaccine.
Nat Commun
January 2025
Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Key functions of antibodies, such as viral neutralisation, depend on high-affinity binding. However, viral neutralisation poorly correlates with antigen affinity for reasons that have been unclear. Here, we use a new mechanistic model of bivalent binding to study >45 patient-isolated IgG1 antibodies interacting with SARS-CoV-2 RBD surfaces.
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