Determinação da soroprevalência da infecção pelo SARS-CoV-2 em Sergipe

Abstract

A new coronavirus from the Coronaviridae family was identified in December 2019 as a cause of complications in the pulmonary pathways in humans, SARS-Cov-2. On February 26, 2020, the first case of infection was confirmed in Brazil, and since then a real war has started to fight the pandemic. This work was the first populationbased seroprevalence study on SARS-CoV-2 infection carried out in Sergipe. In this study we investigated the seroprevalence of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the state of Sergipe, Northeastern Brazil, using rapid IgM − IgG antibody test and fluorescence immunoassay during the first wave of the disease. in Brazil from July to August 2020. In order to identify gender and age group with the greatest applicability of rapid tests and evaluate the number of asymptomatic and symptomatic people, as well as the most presented symptoms. Seroprevalence was 9.3% (95% CI 8.5–10.1), 10.2% (95% CI 9.2– 11.3) for women and 7.9% (95% CI 6, 8–9.1) for men (p = 0.004). We found a decline in the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies according to age, but the differences were not statistically significant: 0–19 years (9.9%; 95% CI 7.8–12.5), 20– 59 years (9.3%; 95% CI 8.4-10.3) and ≥60 years (9.0%; 95% CI 7.5-10.8) (p = 0.517). The metropolitan region had a higher seroprevalence (11.7%, 95% CI 10.3–13.2) than inland municipalities (8.0%, 95% CI 7.2–8.9) (P <0.001). These findings highlight the importance of serosurveillance in estimating the true impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and thereby providing data to better understand the spread of the virus, as well as providing information to guide stay-at-home measures and other policies. In addition, these results can be useful as baseline data to track the progress of the COVID-19 outbreak as social restraint initiatives begin to be relaxed in Brazil.