Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025258 (Oral 103) | Published: 14 Aug 2025
Adetumi Adetunji Subulade1,2,&, Oladele Oluwafemi Ayodeji1, Adesola Omowumi Kareem1, Olufunke Gbenga-Ayeni3, Liasu Adeagbo Ahmed4
1Infectious Disease & Research Control Unit, Community Health Department, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria, 2Department of Public Health, Achievers University, Owo, Onodo state, Nigeria, 3Infectious Disease & Research Control Unit, Laboratory Department, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria, 4Family Medicine Department, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria
&Corresponding author: Adetumi Adetunji Subulade, Infectious Disease & Research Control Unit, Community Health Department, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria, Email: femiayodeji@yahoo.com
Received: 31 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 14 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Lassa fever, Age-Specific, Seroprevalence, Anti-Lassa virus IgG
©Adetumi Adetunji Subulade et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Adetumi Adetunji Subulade et al., Age-specific seroprevalence trend of anti-Lassa virus antibodies: A prospective cohort study in Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfPrc5):00103. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00103
Lassa fever infection is endemic in West Africa, and it commonly occurs in human when there is an exposure to infected excreta, urine or remains of Mastomys natalensis. Pattern of Lassa fever virus (LASV) epidemiological behavior is essential for development of appropriate targeted intervention through vaccine, hence this study aimed at determining the age-specific serological prevalence among a prospective cohort in Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria.
This was a 24-month prospective cohort study conducted in Owo Local Government Area in Ondo State. Samples were collected from 1009 enrolled participants at 6 monthly interval of 0 (baseline), 6, 12, 18 and 24 months following informed consent. The samples were analyzed for anti-Lassa virus (anti-LASV) IgG using ELISA.
The seroprevalence of anti-LASV IgG of the participants was 35.1% at baseline which slightly increased to 37.0% at 24th month and the overall average seroprevalence was 39.1%. The seroprevalence was lowest for age group 5 year and below with 19.1% at baseline and steadily increased to the highest above other age groups to 74.6% at 6 months after which it dropped to 29.6% at 12 months below other age groups, and minimally increased but remained below other age groups to 32.4% at 24 months. Age 50yrs and above had the highest seroprevalence (43.2%) at baseline and remained fairly constant till month 24 when it decreased to 39.7%. The seroprevalence of other age groups were almost constant through the study. The seroconversion risk from the baseline was 10.1%.
As reported in this study, the understanding of anti-LASV IgG seroprevalence and its age-specific trend in an endemic community with regular annual outbreaks is crucial in determining the feasibility, effectiveness and strategic planning of appropriate vaccine-intervention programs for Lassa fever infection control.
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