Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 13;12(4):971.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12040971.

COVID-19 in Tunisia (North Africa): Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the General Population of the Capital City Tunis

Ines Cherif  1   2 , Ghassen Kharroubi  1   2 , Sana Chaabane  1   2 , Rihab Yazidi  1   2 , Mongi Dellagi  1   2 , Mohamed Ali Snoussi  1   2 , Sadok Salem  1   2 , Soumaya Marzouki  2 , Wafa Kammoun Rebai  2 , Samia Rourou  3 , Koussay Dellagi  2   4 , Mohamed Ridha Barbouche  2 , Chaouki Benabdessalem  2 , Melika Ben Ahmed  2 , Jihene Bettaieb  1   2
Affiliations

COVID-19 in Tunisia (North Africa): Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the General Population of the Capital City Tunis

Ines Cherif et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Seroprevalence studies are essential to get an accurate estimate of the actual SARS-CoV-2 diffusion within populations. We report on the findings of the first serosurvey conducted in Tunis prior to the implementation of mass vaccination and analyzed factors associated with seropositivity. A household cross sectional survey was conducted (March-April 2021) in Tunis, spanning the end of the second wave and the beginning of the third wave of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to the spike (S-RBD) or the nucleocapsid (N) proteins were detected by in-house ELISA tests. The survey included 1676 individuals from 431 households. The mean age and sex ratio were 43.3 ± 20.9 years and 0.6, respectively. The weighted seroprevalence of anti-N and/or anti-S-RBD IgG antibodies was equal to 38.0% (34.6-41.5). In multivariate analysis, age under 10, no tobacco use, previous diagnosis of COVID-19, a history of COVID-19 related symptoms and contact with a COVID-19 case within the household, were independently associated with higher SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence. More than one third of people living in Tunis obtained antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Further studies are needed to monitor changes in these figures as Tunisian population is confronted to the subsequent epidemic waves and to guide the vaccine strategy.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; Tunisia; seroepidemiologic studies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Epidemic curve COVID-19 cases in Tunisia expressed as daily new confirmed cases (Data source: [16]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization Listings of WHO’s Response to COVID-19. [(accessed on 30 November 2021)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/news/item/29-06-2020-covidtimeline.
    1. World Health Organization Weekly Epidemiological Update on COVID-19—30 March 2021. [(accessed on 30 November 2021)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on....
    1. WHO WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. 2021. [(accessed on 30 November 2021)]. Available online: https://covid19.who.int.
    1. National Observatory of New and Emerging Diseases COVID-19 en Tunisie: Point de Situation a la Date du 07 Juin 2020. [(accessed on 30 November 2021)]. Available online: https://www.onmne.tn/?p=10229.
    1. National Observatory of New and Emerging diseases Point de Situation sur L’épidémie D’infections au Nouveau Coronavirus « COVID-19 » à la Date du 17 Mars 2020. [(accessed on 22 December 2021)]. Available online: https://www.onmne.tn/?p=10363.

LinkOut - more resources