Conference abstract
Community based survey to assess seroprevalence of poliovirus antibodies in Far-North Cameroon
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2023:18(20).03
Oct 2023.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2023.18.20.2067
Archived on: 03 Oct 2023
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Keywords: Poliomyelitis, seroprevalence survey, Far-North Region, Cameroon
Oral presentation
Community based survey to assess seroprevalence of poliovirus antibodies in Far-North Cameroon
Endegue Zanga Marie Claire1,&, Carolyn Sein2
1Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, 2Polio Eradication, World Health Organization HQ, Geneva, Switzerland
&Corresponding author
Introduction: Cameroon shares borders with Nigeria, the Central African Republic, and Chad. Due to the Boko Haram insurgency, the Extreme north region represents a hot spot of displaced persons. Cameroon has experienced outbreaks of cVDPV2 in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Thus, the polio program needs to understand underlying population immunity to guide future programmatic actions. This study assessed the seroprevalence of polio antibodies against poliovirus in children from selected polio high-risk areas of the Far North region of Cameroon.
Methods: this was a community-based cross-sectional seroprevalence survey involving the collection of dry blood specimens (DBS) among children aged 12-59 months living in the Far North region of Cameroon (n=401). Multi-stage cluster sampling using GIS was applied to select the study sample. Collected DBS were analyzed, with microneutralization assays for poliovirus antibody levels.
Results: the overall seroprevalence of types 1, 2, and 3 antibodies were 86.8% (95% CI: 83.1-89.8), 74.6% (95% CI: 70.1-78.6), and 79.3% (95% CI: 75.1-83.0), respectively. There was an increasing trend in seroprevalence with age, statistically significant between the youngest and oldest age groups (p<0.001). Median titers (log2 scale) for types 1, 2, and 3 were 7.17 (6.5-7.5), 5.17 (4.83-5.5), and 6.17 (5.5-6.5), respectively. Type 2 median titers also increased with increasing age of children.
Conclusion: though there were several opportunities for vaccination through supplementary immunization activities (SIA) and routine immunization (RI), seroprevalence levels were low for all three serotypes, particularly for type 2. This highlights the need to strengthen RI and SIA quality coverage. Low population immunity makes Cameroon vulnerable to new importations and the spread of polioviruses.
Community based survey to assess seroprevalence of poliovirus antibodies in Far-North Cameroon
Endegue Zanga Marie Claire1,&, Carolyn Sein2
1Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, 2Polio Eradication, World Health Organization HQ, Geneva, Switzerland
&Corresponding author
Introduction: Cameroon shares borders with Nigeria, the Central African Republic, and Chad. Due to the Boko Haram insurgency, the Extreme north region represents a hot spot of displaced persons. Cameroon has experienced outbreaks of cVDPV2 in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Thus, the polio program needs to understand underlying population immunity to guide future programmatic actions. This study assessed the seroprevalence of polio antibodies against poliovirus in children from selected polio high-risk areas of the Far North region of Cameroon.
Methods: this was a community-based cross-sectional seroprevalence survey involving the collection of dry blood specimens (DBS) among children aged 12-59 months living in the Far North region of Cameroon (n=401). Multi-stage cluster sampling using GIS was applied to select the study sample. Collected DBS were analyzed, with microneutralization assays for poliovirus antibody levels.
Results: the overall seroprevalence of types 1, 2, and 3 antibodies were 86.8% (95% CI: 83.1-89.8), 74.6% (95% CI: 70.1-78.6), and 79.3% (95% CI: 75.1-83.0), respectively. There was an increasing trend in seroprevalence with age, statistically significant between the youngest and oldest age groups (p<0.001). Median titers (log2 scale) for types 1, 2, and 3 were 7.17 (6.5-7.5), 5.17 (4.83-5.5), and 6.17 (5.5-6.5), respectively. Type 2 median titers also increased with increasing age of children.
Conclusion: though there were several opportunities for vaccination through supplementary immunization activities (SIA) and routine immunization (RI), seroprevalence levels were low for all three serotypes, particularly for type 2. This highlights the need to strengthen RI and SIA quality coverage. Low population immunity makes Cameroon vulnerable to new importations and the spread of polioviruses.
