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. 2020 Nov:1:100013.
doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2020.100013. Epub 2020 Dec 22.

On the importance of population-based serological surveys of SARS-CoV-2 without overlooking their inherent uncertainties

Evangelos I Kritsotakis  1
Affiliations

On the importance of population-based serological surveys of SARS-CoV-2 without overlooking their inherent uncertainties

Evangelos I Kritsotakis. Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2020 Nov.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic has caused an unprecedented public health situation and more than ever it is important to be well informed on methods to monitor and analyse the progression of the epidemic. This brief note aims to explain the scope in conducting large-scale serological surveys of SARS-CoV-2 to define the landscape of population immunity, without overlooking the inherent uncertainty steaming from sampling design and diagnostic validity. The note completes with a succinct appendix of simple statistical methods for estimating prevalence from random population samples using imperfect diagnostic tests.

Keywords: Antibodies; Coronavirus; Diagnostic validity; Random sampling; Seroepidemiology; Seroprevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author is an Editorial Board member of Public Health in Practice. The author declares that he has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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