ArticleTransactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene2022
Integrated serological surveillance of acute febrile illness in the context of a lymphatic filariasis survey in Timor-Leste: a pilot study using dried blood spots.
Article in Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Human Filariasis in Africa (2000-2025): Changing epidemiology, uneven diagnostic progress, and persistent neglect.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Sero-catalytic and spatial modeling of dengue virus force of infection in Timor-Leste.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Serogroup Distribution ofMicroorganisms · 2025Article
- The Use of Dried Matrix Spots as an Alternative Sampling Technique for Monitoring Neglected Tropical Diseases.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Development and validation of a long-read metabarcoding platform for the detection of filarial worm pathogens of animals and humans.BMC microbiology · 2024Article
- Lessons Learnt Delivering a Novel Infectious Diseases National Training Programme to Timor‑Leste's Primary Care Workforce.Annals of global health · 2024Article
- Article
- Field evaluation of rapid diagnostic tests to determine dengue serostatus in Timor-Leste.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAcute febrile illnesses (AFIs), including dengue, scrub typhus and leptospirosis, cause significant morbidity and mortality in Southeast Asia. Serological surveillance can be used to investigate the force and distribution of infections. Dried blood spot (DBS) samples are an attractive alternative to serum because they are easier to collect and transport and require less cold storage. We conducted a pilot study to determine the feasibility of integrating serological surveillance for dengue, scrub typhus and leptospirosis into a population-representative lymphatic filariasis seroprevalence survey in Timor-Leste using DBSs.
methodsA total of 272 DBSs were collected from healthy community participants. DBSs were analysed at the National Health Laboratory using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. To validate assays for DBSs, 20 anonymised serum samples of unknown serostatus were used to create dried serum spots (DSSs). These were analysed with optical densities compared with those of serum. Where low variance was observed (dengue assay) the published kit cut-offs for serum were applied to the analysis of DBSs. For the other assays (scrub typhus and leptospirosis), index values (IVs) were calculated and cut-offs were determined to be at 2 standard deviations (SDs) above the mean.
resultsOf the 272 samples analysed, 19 (7.0% [95% confidence interval {CI} 4.3 to 10.7]) were positive for dengue immunoglobulin G (IgG), 11 (4.0% [95% CI 2.1 to 7.1]) were positive for scrub typhus IgG and 16 (5.9% [95% CI 3.4 to 9.4%]) were positive for leptospira IgG.
conclusionsWhile dengue seroprevalence was lower than in nearby countries, results represent the first evidence of scrub typhus and leptospirosis transmission in Timor-Leste. Integrated programmes of serological surveillance could greatly improve our understanding of infectious disease epidemiology in remote areas and would incur minimal additional fieldwork costs. However, when planning such studies, the choice of assays, their validation for DBSs and the laboratory infrastructure and technical expertise at the proposed location of analysis must be considered.
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