Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG at the first epidemic peak in French Guiana, July 2020

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021 Nov 12;15(11):e0009945. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009945. eCollection 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Background: While Latin America has been heavily affected by the pandemic, only a few seroprevalence studies have been conducted there during the first epidemic wave in the first half of 2020.

Methodology/principal findings: A cross-sectional survey was performed between 15 July 2020 and 23 July 2020 among individuals who visited 4 medical laboratories or 5 health centers for routine screening or clinical management, with the exception of symptomatic suggestive cases of covid-19. Samples were screened for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG directed against domain S1 of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using the anti-SARS-CoV-2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from Euroimmun.

Conclusions/significance: The overall seroprevalence was 15.4% [9.3%-24.4%] among 480 participants, ranging from 4.0% to 25.5% across the different municipalities. The seroprevalence did not differ according to gender (p = 0.19) or age (p = 0.51). Among SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals, we found that 24.6% [11.5%-45.2%] reported symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Our findings revealed high levels of infection across the territory but a low number of resulting deaths, which can be explained by French Guiana's young population structure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • French Guiana / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood*
  • Infant
  • Middle Aged
  • SARS-CoV-2 / immunology*
  • Seroepidemiologic Studies
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Immunoglobulin G

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Research Agency to CF, the “European Regional Development Fund” (GY0027257) to CF, the “Regional Health Agency of French Guiana” to CF and the « URGENCE COVID-19 » fundraising campaign of Institut Pasteur to CF. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.