{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,26]],"date-time":"2026-10-26T18:28:18Z","timestamp":1793039298266,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,16]],"date-time":"2021-12-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1639612800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":15,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"COVID-19 National Trust Fund, Ghana","award":["NTD\/COVID\/19\/F\/006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NTD\/COVID\/19\/F\/006"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003107","name":"Bundesministerium f\u00fcr Gesundheit","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ZMVI1-2520COR001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZMVI1-2520COR001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003107","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002347","name":"Bundesministerium f\u00fcr Bildung und Forschung","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["01KI20210"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01KI20210"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002347","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,23]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the entire world with increasing morbidity and mortality and has resulted in serious economic and social consequences. Assessing the burden of COVID-19 is essential for developing efficient pandemic preparedness and response strategies and for determining the impact of implemented control measures. Population-based seroprevalence surveys are critical to estimate infection rates, monitor the progression of the epidemic and to allow for the identification of persons exposed to the infection who may either have been asymptomatic or were never tested. This is especially important for countries where effective testing and tracking systems could not be established and where non-severe cases or under-reported deaths might have blurred the true burden of COVID-19. Most seroprevalence surveys performed in sub-Saharan Africa have targeted specific high risk or more easily accessible populations such as healthcare workers or blood donors, and household-based estimates are rarely available. Here, we present the study protocol for a SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence estimation in the general population of Burkina Faso, Ghana and Madagascar in 2021.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods and analysis<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The SeroCoV study is a household-based cross-sectional prevalence investigation in persons aged 10 years and older living in urban areas in six cities using a two-stage geographical cluster sampling method stratified by age and sex. The presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies will be determined using a sensitive and specific SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA. In addition, questionnaires will cover sociodemographic information, episodes of diseases and history of testing and treatment for COVID-like symptoms, travel history and safety measures. We will estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2, taking into account test performance and adjusting for the age and sex of the respective populations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Ethics and dissemination<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Ethical approval was received for all participating countries. Results will be disseminated through reports and presentations at the country level as well as peer-reviewed publications and international scientific conferences presentations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2021-056853","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,17]],"date-time":"2021-12-17T12:25:57Z","timestamp":1639743957000},"page":"e056853","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in urban settings in three sub-Saharan African countries (SeroCoV): a study protocol for a household-based cross-sectional prevalence study using two-stage cluster sampling"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6057-0078","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eva","family":"Lorenz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research Hamburg-L\u00fcbeck-Borstel-Riems Site, Hamburg, Germany"},{"name":"Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University Medical Centre of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aur\u00e9lia","family":"Souares","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universitatsklinikum Heidelberg Institut fur Global Health, Heidelberg, Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research Heidelberg Site, Heidelberg, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John","family":"Amuasi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana"},{"name":"Department of Global and International Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wibke","family":"Loag","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christina","family":"Deschermeier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Diagnostics, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8833-239X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniela","family":"Fusco","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research Hamburg-L\u00fcbeck-Borstel-Riems Site, Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dominik","family":"Benke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rivo","family":"A Rakotoarivelo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Fianarantsoa, Fianarantsoa, Madagascar"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mandranto Tahinamandranto","family":"Rasamoelina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre d\u2019Infectiologie Charles M\u00e9reiux, Antananarivo, Madagascar"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raphael","family":"Rakotozandrindrainy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universite d\"Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ali","family":"Sie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"German Center for Infection Research Heidelberg Site, Heidelberg, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, Germany"},{"name":"Centre de Recherche en Sante de Nouna, Nouna, Boucle du Mouhoun, Burkina Faso"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8912-9673","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anthony","family":"Afum-Adjei Awuah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana"},{"name":"Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"J\u00fcrgen","family":"May","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research Hamburg-L\u00fcbeck-Borstel-Riems Site, Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Eibach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research Hamburg-L\u00fcbeck-Borstel-Riems Site, Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicole","family":"Struck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany"},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research Hamburg-L\u00fcbeck-Borstel-Riems Site, Hamburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.1","unstructured":"WHO . Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19, 2021. Available: https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/m\/item\/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19-13-july-2021"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41591-020-0961-x"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2011834","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2020.11834","article-title":"Temperature, humidity, and latitude analysis to estimate potential spread and seasonality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)","volume":"3","author":"Sajadi","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA Netw Open"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.9745\/GHSP-D-21-00172"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30553-5"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.6","unstructured":"Organisation WH . Thematic paper on the status of country preparedness capacities, 2019."},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.7","unstructured":"WHO . Population-Based age-stratified seroepidemiological investigation protocol for coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection, 26 may 2020. version 2.0. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2020."},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.8","unstructured":"WHO . Critical preparedness, readiness and response actions for COVID-19, 2021."},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e75","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(20)30631-9","article-title":"SeroTracker: a global SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence dashboard","volume":"21","author":"Arora","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Infect Dis"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bobrovitz N , Arora RK , Yan T . Lessons from a rapid systematic review of early SARS-CoV-2 serosurveys. medRxiv 2020.","DOI":"10.1101\/2020.05.10.20097451"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e598","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(21)00026-7","article-title":"Serological evidence of human infection with SARS-CoV-2: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"9","author":"Chen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Glob Health"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"331","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cmi.2020.10.020","article-title":"SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"27","author":"Rostami","year":"2021","journal-title":"Clin Microbiol Infect"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.13","article-title":"Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in Juba, South Sudan: a population-based study","author":"Wiens","year":"2021","journal-title":"medRxiv"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Franceschi VB , Santos AS , Glaeser AB . Population-Based prevalence surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review. medRxiv 2020.doi:10.1101\/2020.10.20.20216259","DOI":"10.1101\/2020.10.20.20216259"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Majiya H , Aliyu-Paiko M , Balogu VT . Seroprevalence of COVID-19 in niger state. medRxiv 2020.doi:10.1101\/2020.08.04.20168112","DOI":"10.1101\/2020.08.04.20168112"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e773","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(21)00053-X","article-title":"Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in six districts in Zambia in July, 2020: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey","volume":"9","author":"Mulenga","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Glob Health"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ngere IA , Dawa J , Hunsperger E , et al . High seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 eight months after introduction in Nairobi, Kenya. SSRN Journal 2021.doi:10.2139\/ssrn.3844795","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.3844795"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"621","DOI":"10.1111\/tmi.13569","article-title":"Limited specificity of commercially available SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISAs in serum samples of African origin","volume":"26","author":"Emmerich","year":"2021","journal-title":"Trop Med Int Health"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"925","DOI":"10.1016\/j.immuni.2020.10.004","article-title":"Orthogonal SARS-CoV-2 serological assays enable surveillance of low-prevalence communities and reveal durable humoral immunity","volume":"53","author":"Ripperger","year":"2020","journal-title":"Immunity"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1598","DOI":"10.1038\/s41564-020-00813-8","article-title":"Longitudinal observation and decline of neutralizing antibody responses in the three months following SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans","volume":"5","author":"Seow","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat Microbiol"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12098-012-0763-3"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.22","unstructured":"Daniel WW . Biostatistics: a foundation for analysis in the health sciences. 7 edn. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1999."},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.23","unstructured":"HDX THDE . Madagascar - Subnational Administrative Boundaries - Humanitarian Data Exchange, 2021."},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.24","unstructured":"HDX THDE . Madagascar - Subnational Population Statistics - Humanitarian Data Exchange, 2021."},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.25","unstructured":"Foundation FS . OsmAnd - Offline Mobile Maps and Navigation, 2021. Available: https:\/\/osmand.net\/"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jbi.2008.08.010"},{"key":"2025121220180700000_11.12.e056853.27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1269","DOI":"10.1111\/rssc.12435","article-title":"Bayesian analysis of tests with unknown specificity and sensitivity","volume":"69","author":"Gelman","year":"2020","journal-title":"J R Stat Soc C"}],"container-title":["BMJ Open"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2021-056853","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,13]],"date-time":"2025-12-13T04:18:19Z","timestamp":1765599499000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2021-056853"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]},"references-count":27,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,17]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/bmjopen-2021-056853"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2021-056853","relation":{},"ISSN":["2044-6055","2044-6055"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2044-6055","type":"print"},{"value":"2044-6055","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,12]]}}}