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Emerg Infect Dis
. 2022 Feb 18;28(4).
doi: 10.3201/eid2804.211961. Online ahead of print.
SARS-CoV-2 IgG Seroprevalence among Blood Donors as a Monitor of the COVID-19 Epidemic, Brazil
Daniel Gonçalves Chaves, Ricardo Hiroshi Caldeira Takahashi, Felipe Campelo, Maria Clara Fernandes da Silva Malta, Isabelle Rocha de Oliveira, Edel Figueiredo Barbosa-Stancioli, Maísa Aparecida Ribeiro, Marina Lobato Martins
- PMID: 35180375
- DOI: 10.3201/eid2804.211961
Abstract
During epidemics, data from different sources can provide information on varying aspects of the epidemic process. Serology-based epidemiologic surveys could be used to compose a consistent epidemic scenario. We assessed the seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) IgG in serum samples collected from 7,837 blood donors in 7 cities of Brazil during March-December 2020. Based on our results, we propose a modification in a compartmental model that uses reported number of SARS-CoV-2 cases and serology results from blood donors as inputs and delivers estimates of hidden variables, such as daily values of SARS-CoV-2 transmission rates and cumulative incidence rate of reported and unreported SARS-CoV-2 cases. We concluded that the information about cumulative incidence of a disease in a city's population can be obtained by testing serum samples collected from blood donors. Our proposed method also can be extended to surveillance of other infectious diseases.
Keywords: Brazil; COVID-19; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; blood donor; coronavirus; coronavirus disease; epidemic model; respiratory infections; seroprevalence; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; zoonoses.