Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 31418012
J. Infect. Dis. 2019 Aug;
BACKGROUND: Since the identification of Zika virus (ZIKV) in Brazil in May 2015, the virus has spread throughout the Americas. However, ZIKV burden in the general population in affected countries remains unknown.
METHODS: We conducted a general population survey in the different communities of French Guiana through individual interviews and serologic survey during June-October 2017. All serum samples were tested for anti ZIKV IgG antibodies using a recombinant antigen-based SGERPAxMap microsphere immunoassay while part of them were further evaluated through anti ZIKV microneutralization tests (MNTs).
RESULTS: The overall seroprevalence was estimated at 23.3% [20.9%-25.9%] among 2,697 participants, varying from 0% to 45.6% according to municipalities. ZIKV circulated in a large majority of French Guiana but not in the most isolated forest areas. The proportion of reported symptomatic Zika infection was estimated at 25.5% [20.3% – 31.4%] in ZIKV-positive individuals.
CONCLUSIONS: This study described a large-scale representative ZIKV seroprevalence study in South America from the recent 2015-2016 Zika epidemic. Our findings reveal that the majority of the population remains susceptible to ZIKV, which could potentially allow future reintroductions of the virus.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31418012