Rapid decline of Zika virus NS1 antigen-specific antibody responses, northeastern Brazil

Abstract:

Methods: We assessed the long-term kinetics of ZIKV NS1-IgG response in 144 individuals from three different subpopulations (HIV patients, tuberculosis patients, and healthy individuals) in Salvador, Brazil. Participants were first tested in 2016 and retested 1.5–2 years after the 2015–2016 ZIKV epidemic using a commercial NS1-based ELISA.

Results: Seropositivity reached 59.0% in 2016 and significantly decreased to 38.6% two years later. The median ELISA reactivity for individuals who remained positive dropped from a ratio of 4.4 to 1.6. Remarkably, 20.6% of individuals who were seropositive in 2016 became seronegative (seroreverted) by 2017–2018, most of whom were HIV-positive.

Conclusion: The high rate of seroreversion suggests that ZIKV immunity might be shorter-lived than previously thought. Widely used serologic tests may fail to account for a considerable proportion of past ZIKV infections, which may contribute to local ZIKV resurgence as protective immunity wanes.

Keywords: Zika virus; Flavivirus; Serology; Antigens.

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• Data de Publicação: 15/06/2020
• Autores: Andres Moreira‐Soto1 · Gilmara de Souza Sampaio2 · Célia Pedroso2 · Ignacio Postigo‐Hidalgo1 · Beatrice Sarah Berneck3 · Sebastian Ulbert3 · Carlos Brites2 · Eduardo Martins Netto2,4 · Jan Felix Drexler1,5,6,7