by Vicco A, McCormack CP, Pedrique B, Amuasi JH, Awuah AAA, Obirikorang C, Struck NS, Lorenz E, May J, Ribeiro I, Malavige GN, Donnelly CA, Dorigatti I. PLOS Computational Biology 2023, 19(11): e1011666. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011666
Summary: The extent to which dengue virus has been circulating globally, and especially in Africa, is largely unknown. Blood samples from previous cross-sectional serological surveys can be used to investigate past dengue infections, to reconstruct the age-dependent immunity profile of the population, and to estimate the average per-capita annual risk of infection. The authors of this study present a novel methodological approach to informing the size and age distribution of blood samples to test when samples are acquired from previous surveys. The method was used to inform SERODEN, a dengue seroprevalence survey which is currently using samples previously collected for a SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey. This method could used to determine sample sizes and testing strategies for different diseases and transmission settings.
