Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025118 (Poster 055) | Published: 01 Aug 2025
Ebrima Jallow1,&, Modou Lamin Sanneh2, Amadou Woury Jallow1, Sheriffo Jagne2, Lamin Manneh1, Muhammed Kijera2, Mary Bobb1, Lamin Sawo3, Babucarr Sawo4, Kumba Susso4, Muhammed Baldeh4, Kaddijatou Drammeh5, Karim Darboe6, Nfally Mballow1, Kebba Jobarteh1, Sainey Sanneh1, Balla Jatta1, Bakary Sanneh2, Boubacar Diallo7, Aliou Barry7, Idrissa Dieng7
1Gambia Field Epidemiology Training Program, Epidemiology and Disease Control Program, Banjul, The Gambia, 2National Public Health Laboratories, Banjul, The Gambia, 3Regional Health Directorate- Bansang, Central River Region, The Gambia, 4Bansang General Hospital- Bansang, Central River Region, The Gambia, 5Brikama District Hospital- Brikama, Western Two Health Region, The Gambia, 6Intitute Pasteur de Dakar, Dakar, Senegal, 7Regional Health Directorate- Brikama, Western Two Health Region, The Gambia
&Corresponding author: Ebrima Jallow, Gambia Field Epidemiology Training Program, Epidemiology and Disease Control Program, Banjul, The Gambia, Email: ekjallow1@gmail.com
Received: 19 Apr 2024, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 01 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Arboviruses, Respiratory Viruses, Sentinel Surveillance, Outbreak Detection, The Gambia
©Ebrima Jallow 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: Ebrima Jallow et al., Uncovering hidden outbreaks: What syndromic surveillance revealed about arboviruses and respiratory illness in The Gambia. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(Conf Proc 5):00199. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00199
The emergence of H1N1 (Swine flu) virus in 2009 and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) in 2019 demonstrated the need for effective surveillance for early detection of epidemic diseases. Through the Syndromic Sentinel Surveillance System (4S) for arboviruses and respiratory infections, we analyzed epidemiological data for arbovirus and respiratory infection surveillance to inform public health decisions.
Two sentinel surveillance sites; one rural and the other semi-urban, were identified based on epidemiological profile. Case definition were developed as; Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI): “any person with acute onset of fever and cough”. Arboviruses; “Any person with fever and at least two of these signs: headaches, myalgia, arthralgia, rashes, retro-orbital pain, or hemorrhagic manifestation”. Nasopharyngeal samples were collected from SARI suspects and Blood for arboviruses. Both arbovirus and respiratory samples were tested using RT-PCR. Positive arbovirus samples were sent to a regional reference laboratory for confirmatory testing. Data collected through the Teranga platform were analyzed using Epi Info. The 7-1-7 approach was used to assess timeliness of detection, reporting, and response.
A total of 620 samples were collected with a median age of 16 years (0 – 80 years). Of these, 33% (206/620) were respiratory. A total of 34 samples tested positive: 28 respiratory viruses; [39% (11/28) SARS-CoV2, 36% (10/28) Flu A, 21% (6/28) RSV] and 6 arboviruses [67% (4/6) Yellow Fever and 16% (1/6) for Chikungunya and Dengue respectively]. One patient was co-infected with Dengue, Yellow Fever, and Malaria. Timeliness indicators showed that 35% of confirmed cases were detected within 7 days, 98% were reported immediately, and 53% received response within 7 days.
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