ArticleInternational journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases2023
Characterizing the evolving SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in urban and rural Malawi between February 2021 and April 2022: A population-based cohort study.
Article in International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between helminth infection and impaired SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses following COVID-19 vaccination: a cross-sectional study in Malawi.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibody profiles reveal variant specific antibody dynamics and regional differences in infection histories in Malawi.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Characterising protective immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in urban and rural Malawi between February 2021 and April 2022.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Seroprevalence and Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination Trends: Findings from Surveillance Conducted at First Antenatal Care Visits in Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia, 2021-2022.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Retrovirus-based pseudotyped virus neutralisation assays overestimate neutralising activity in sera from participants receiving integrase inhibitors.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Humoral immune response to COVID-19 vaccines in onchocerciasis-infected individuals: a field study from Ghana.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Endemic Respiratory Viruses During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Urban and Rural Malawi.Open forum infectious diseases · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
16 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to investigate the changing SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and associated health and sociodemographic factors in Malawi between February 2021 and April 2022.
methodsIn total, four 3-monthly serosurveys were conducted within a longitudinal population-based cohort in rural Karonga District and urban Lilongwe, testing for SARS-CoV-2 S1 immunoglobulin (Ig)G antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Population seroprevalence was estimated in all and unvaccinated participants. Bayesian mixed-effects logistic models estimated the odds of seropositivity in the first survey, and of seroconversion between surveys, adjusting for age, sex, occupation, location, and assay sensitivity/specificity.
resultsOf the 2005 participants (Karonga, n = 1005; Lilongwe, n = 1000), 55.8% were female and median age was 22.7 years. Between Surveys (SVY) 1 and 4, population-weighted SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence increased from 26.3% to 89.2% and 46.4% to 93.9% in Karonga and Lilongwe, respectively. At SVY4, seroprevalence did not differ by COVID-19 vaccination status in adults, except for those aged 30+ years in Karonga (unvaccinated: 87.4%, 95% credible interval 79.3-93.0%; two doses: 98.1%, 94.8-99.5%). Location and age were associated with seroconversion risk. Individuals with hybrid immunity had higher SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity and antibody titers, than those infected.
conclusionHigh SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence combined with low morbidity and mortality indicate that universal vaccination is unnecessary at this stage of the pandemic, supporting change in national policy to target at-risk groups.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.