Escalating spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection after school reopening among students in hotspot districts of Oromia Region in Ethiopia: Longitudinal study

• Published in: PloS one 2023-01, Vol.18 (2), p.e0280801
• Main Authors: Dabesa Gobena, Esayas Kebede Gudina, Daniel Yilma, Tsinuel Girma, Getu Gebre, Tesfaye Gelanew, Alemseged Abdissa, Daba Mulleta, Tarekegn Sarbessa, Henok Asefa, Mirkuzie Woldie, Gemechu Shumi, Birhanu Kenate, Arne Kroidl, Andreas Wieser, Beza Eshetu, Tizta Tilahun Degfie, Zeleke Mekonnen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280801

BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic caused by extended variants of SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 350 million people, resulting in over 5.5 million deaths globally. However, the actual burden of the pandemic in Africa, particularly among children, remains largely unknown. We aimed to assess the seroepidemiological changes of SARS-CoV-2 infection after school reopening among school children in Oromia, Ethiopia.MethodsA prospective cohort study involving students aged 10 years and older were used. A serological survey was performed twice, at school reopening in December 2020 and four months later in April 2021. Participants were selected from 60 schools located in 15 COVID-19 hotspot districts in Oromia Region. Serology tests were performed by Elecsys anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid assay. Data were collected using CSentry CSProData Entry 7.2.1 and exported to STATA version 14.2 for data cleaning and analysis.ResultsA total of 1884 students were recruited at baseline, and 1271 completed the follow-up. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence almost doubled in four months from 25.7% at baseline to 46.3% in the second round, with a corresponding seroincidence of 1910 per 100,000 person-week. Seroincidence was found to be higher among secondary school students (grade 9-12) compared to primary school students (grade 4-8) (RR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.21-2.22) and among those with large family size (> = 5) than those with a family size of