(Sero)Prevalence of (Re)Emerging Major Arbovirus Infections in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol

Background Arbovirus infection outbreaks are becoming more common in Africa. However, it is still difficult and crucial to better understand arbovirus transmission patterns, disease trends, and burdens. The epidemiology of these infections—dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), West Nile virus (WNV), Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), and yellow fever virus (YFV)—is unfortunately not well understood. This review provides an epidemiological inventory of DENV, ZIKV, CHIKV, WNV, RVFV, and YFV infections in Africa, with helpful results for risk mapping and upcoming prevention and control initiatives. Methods This systematic review protocol implements the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and an expert-evaluated design and laboratory assay and reporting evaluation (DARE) concept. Two independent reviewers conducted preliminary literature searches in PubMed in May 2023 to improve the search keywords, strategy, and inclusion criteria while considering the context and scientific significance. The final search will be conducted using PubMed, ScienceDirect (SCOPUS), the Web of Science Core Collection, African Journal Online and Google Scholar. Two reviewers will simultaneously and independently conduct searches, screen studies, and extract data. Quality assessment will be performed by two independent epidemiology experts, and discrepancies will be handled by consensus or by consulting a third reviewer. Meta-analysis will be performed to determine the pooled estimates of arbovirus circulation and transmission patterns in Africa. Discussion In this review, we present an epidemiological inventory with information that will be relevant for risk assessment, future arbovirus infection outbreak prevention, and arbovirus infection outbreak control in Africa. This will include estimating the patterns, trends, and burdens of arboviral infection across Africa, as well as identifying the regions with the highest risk of transmission. This approach will be crucial for developing well-informed policies for epidemic prevention. Systematic review registration The review is registered and accessible at Prospero with the registration ID CRD42023434939.