PLoS ONE
Volume 14, Issue 1, 2019

Dengue and chikungunya seroprevalence among Qatari nationals and immigrants residing in Qatar (Article) (Open Access)

Humphrey J.M.* , Al-Absi E.S. , Hamdan M.M. , Okasha S.S. , Al-Trmanini D.M. , El-Dous H.G. , Dargham S.R. , Schieffelin J. , Abu-Raddad L.J. , Nasrallah G.K.
  • a Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, United States
  • b Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, BioMedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • c Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, BioMedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • d Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, BioMedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • e Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, BioMedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • f Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, BioMedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
  • g Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation—Education City, Doha, Qatar
  • h Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States
  • i Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Cornell University, Qatar Foundation—Education City, Doha, Qatar, Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University, New York, NY, United States
  • j Department of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, BioMedical Research Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

Abstract

The objective of this study is to characterize the seroprevalence of anti-dengue (DENV) and anti-chikungunya (CHIKV) antibodies among blood donors residing in Qatar who are Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nationals and non-nationals. Sera were collected from adult blood donors in Qatar from 2013 to 2016 and tested for anti-DENV and anti-CHIKV IgG using commercial microplate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Age-specific seroprevalence was summarized by region/nationality: Asia (India, Philippines), Middle East (Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, Yemen), North Africa (Egypt, Sudan), Qatar. The adjusted odds of anti-DENV and anti-CHIKV IgG seropositivity was estimated by logistic regression. Among 1,992 serum samples tested, Asian nationals had higher adjusted odds of being seropositive for anti-DENV antibodies compared to nationals of the Middle East (aOR 0.05, 95% CI 0.04–0.07), North Africa (aOR 0.14, 95% CI 0.10–0.20), and Qatar (aOR 0.01, 95% CI 0.01–0.03). Asian nationals also had higher adjusted odds of being seropositive for anti-CHIKV antibodies compared to those from the Middle East (aOR 0.14, 95% CI 0.07–0.27), North Africa (aOR 0.50, 95% CI 0.26–0.96), and Qatar (aOR 0.38, 95% CI 0.15–0.96). The adjusted odds of being anti-DENV seropositive was higher among anti-CHIKV seropositive adults, and vice versa (aOR 1.94, 95% CI 1.09–3.44), suggesting co-circulation of these viruses. DENV and CHIKV exposure is lower in Qatar and MENA nationals compared to Asian nationals suggesting a lower burden of DENV and CHIKV disease in the MENA. Antibodies to both viruses were detected in nationals from most MENA countries, supporting the need to better understand the regional epidemiology of these viruses. © 2019 Humphrey et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

blood sampling immigrant Asian Antibodies, Viral Qatari human Qatar middle aged Middle East controlled study geographic distribution chikungunya Cross-Sectional Studies dengue blood donor Young Adult cross-sectional study migrant Humans Dengue virus virology male Emigrants and Immigrants female enzyme linked immunosorbent assay isolation and purification Article Retrospective Studies blood adult seroepidemiology North Africa cohort analysis retrospective study seroprevalence disease burden immunoglobulin G Seroepidemiologic Studies Chikungunya virus Chikungunya Fever virus antibody
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85060914060&doi=10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0211574&partnerID=40&md5=ea14f16bfe71317b7b381a55b4e9ce79
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211574
ISSN: 19326203
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English