EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023)
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria was characterized by a high mortality rate and vaccination efforts yielded suboptimal results. Understanding population immunity is important as new SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to emerge. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 anti...
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National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Problems of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases |
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| Online Access: | https://pipd.ncipd.org/index.php/pipd/article/view/145 |
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| author | Kim Ngoc Iva Trifonova Teodora Gladnishka Elitsa Panayotova Evgenia Taseva Vladislava Ivanova Eleonora Kutevа Iva Vladimirova Iva Christova |
| author_facet | Kim Ngoc Iva Trifonova Teodora Gladnishka Elitsa Panayotova Evgenia Taseva Vladislava Ivanova Eleonora Kutevа Iva Vladimirova Iva Christova |
| author_sort | Kim Ngoc |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria was characterized by a high mortality rate and vaccination efforts yielded suboptimal results. Understanding population immunity is important as new SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to emerge. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population of Bulgaria and examine demographic variations in antibody presence.
Materials and methods: In December 2023, 1895 serum samples were randomly collected from healthy individuals across all 28 provinces. Samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-specific IgG antibodies using ELISA method. A subset of the positive samples was subsequently tested for neutralizing antibodies. Seroprevalence was analyzed by sex, age group, and geographic region. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS v.26.
Results: Overall seroprevalence was 91.9%, with similar rates between males (91.6%) and females (92.0%). Seroprevalence was highest in the 18-39 age group (95.1%) and lowest in those over 65 (89.3%). Regional seroprevalence ranged from 80.0% to 98.3%. Among samples tested for presence of neutralizing antibodies, 90.5% were positive, indicating effective immune response.
Conclusions: The high seroprevalence suggests widespread prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and/or vaccination among the Bulgarian population. The strong presence of neutralizing antibodies might provide potential protection against severe disease. Targeted interventions towards older age groups could be appropriate in order to sustain immunity as COVID-19 remains a public health concern.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ff2bb887588f4932bbea472d92fc38d2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0204-9155 2815-2808 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Problems of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases |
| spelling | doaj-art-ff2bb887588f4932bbea472d92fc38d22025-01-18T19:01:04ZengNational Center of Infectious and Parasitic DiseasesProblems of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases0204-91552815-28082025-01-0152310.58395/03r0mk42EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023)Kim Ngoc0Iva Trifonova1Teodora Gladnishka2Elitsa Panayotova3Evgenia Taseva4Vladislava Ivanova5Eleonora Kutevа6Iva Vladimirova7Iva Christova8National Centre of Infectious and Parasitic DiseasesDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, BulgariaDepartment of Microbiology, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, Bulgaria Background: The COVID-19 pandemic in Bulgaria was characterized by a high mortality rate and vaccination efforts yielded suboptimal results. Understanding population immunity is important as new SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to emerge. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population of Bulgaria and examine demographic variations in antibody presence. Materials and methods: In December 2023, 1895 serum samples were randomly collected from healthy individuals across all 28 provinces. Samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-specific IgG antibodies using ELISA method. A subset of the positive samples was subsequently tested for neutralizing antibodies. Seroprevalence was analyzed by sex, age group, and geographic region. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS v.26. Results: Overall seroprevalence was 91.9%, with similar rates between males (91.6%) and females (92.0%). Seroprevalence was highest in the 18-39 age group (95.1%) and lowest in those over 65 (89.3%). Regional seroprevalence ranged from 80.0% to 98.3%. Among samples tested for presence of neutralizing antibodies, 90.5% were positive, indicating effective immune response. Conclusions: The high seroprevalence suggests widespread prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and/or vaccination among the Bulgarian population. The strong presence of neutralizing antibodies might provide potential protection against severe disease. Targeted interventions towards older age groups could be appropriate in order to sustain immunity as COVID-19 remains a public health concern. https://pipd.ncipd.org/index.php/pipd/article/view/145COVID-19seroprevalenceBulgaria |
| spellingShingle | Kim Ngoc Iva Trifonova Teodora Gladnishka Elitsa Panayotova Evgenia Taseva Vladislava Ivanova Eleonora Kutevа Iva Vladimirova Iva Christova EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023) Problems of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases COVID-19 seroprevalence Bulgaria |
| title | EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023) |
| title_full | EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023) |
| title_fullStr | EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023) |
| title_full_unstemmed | EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023) |
| title_short | EVALUATION OF POPULATION-LEVEL IMMUNITY TO SARS-COV-2 ACROSS BULGARIA (END OF 2023) |
| title_sort | evaluation of population level immunity to sars cov 2 across bulgaria end of 2023 |
| topic | COVID-19 seroprevalence Bulgaria |
| url | https://pipd.ncipd.org/index.php/pipd/article/view/145 |
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