SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Ivory Coast: A Serosurveillance Survey among Gold Mine Workers

  1. Jean Marie Milleliri
  2. Daouda Coulibaly
  3. Blaise Nyobe
  4. Jean-Loup Rey
  5. Franck Lamontagne
  6. Laurent Hocqueloux
  7. Susanna Giaché
  8. Antoine Valery
  9. Thierry Prazuck

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Abstract

Of the 107 million COVID-19 cases worldwide, less than 2 million have been reported in African countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Ivory Coast mine workers. From July 15 to October 13, 2020, a voluntary serological test campaign was conducted in 3 sites: two gold mines, and the headquarters in Abidjan. Rapid tests to detect IgG and IgM on capillary blood were performed. To identify independent sociodemographic characteristics associated with a higher SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence rate, a multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. A total of 1,687 subjects were tested; 91% were male ( n = 1,536), and the mean age was 37 years. The overall seroprevalence was 25.1% ( n = 422), ranging between 13.6% (11.2–16.1%), 34.4% (31.1–37.7%), and 34.7% (26.2–43.2%) in mine A, in mine B, and in Abidjan, respectively. Among the 422 seropositive subjects, 74 reported mild symptoms in the three previous months and one was hospitalized for severe COVID-19 infection. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence is high in both gold miners and administrative staff working in Ivory Coast. The burden of infection in West Africa has probably been underestimated till now.

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  1. Version published to 10.4269/ajtmh.21-0081
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.01.27.21249186: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: For each participant, a written informed consent was obtained.
    IRB: Ethical considerations: The GISPE Research and Ethical committee approved the survey on May 15th 2020 (N° EC-GISPE014).
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Point-of-care used test: The COVID-PRESTO® SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM antibody test kit is a lateral flow immune-chromatographic assay targeting antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 N-protein.
    SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgM
    suggested: None
    This rapid diagnostic test (RDT) uses anti-human IgM antibodies (test line IgM), anti-human IgG antibodies (test line IgG) and rabbit IgG (control line C) immobilized on a nitrocellulose strip.
    anti-human IgM
    suggested: None
    anti-human IgG
    suggested: None
    rabbit IgG
    suggested: None
    When a specimen is well placed in the sample and the assay buffer is added, the IgM and IgG antibodies, if present, bind to the SARS-CoV-2 conjugates forming an antigen-antibodies complex.
    IgG
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has some limitations. Firstly, the included population is not representative of the general Ivoirian population, although subjects living in Abidjan have similar habits to those of the Abidjan’s population. Furthermore, the voluntary test may have selected people thinking to be more exposed to the virus, for example people who previously had mild symptoms or had households contacts of a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 case. Third, even if COVID-PRESTO® has an excellent diagnostic performance, diagnostic sensitivity decreases a few months after the infection, compared to the reference test S-Flow, and may therefore have underestimated the real seroprevalence. In conclusion, the high SARS-CoV-2 prevalence rate among mining workers recruited for this study confirms a higher proportion of asymptomatic cases than that observed in Europe, South America or United States of America till now. Herd immunity could be achieved in Africa much easier than expected without generating a dramatic health crisis.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.01.27.21249186v1 on medRxiv