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Al-Ansari F, Al-Ansari B, Abdulzahra MS, Rashid H, Hill-Cawthorne GA, Al-Ansari MB, Al-Fatlaw SM, Mawash M, Al Ansari M, Conigrave KM. Managing risk of infectious disease transmission at religious mass gatherings: Insights from survey, COVID-19 PCR, and antibody tests from Arbaeen walkers in 2020. Lung India 2024; 41:185-191. [PMID: 38687229 DOI: 10.4103/lungindia.lungindia_431_23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Arbaeen in Iraq has been one of the largest mass gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic with 14.5 million attendees in 2020. We set out to assess the prevalence of current or past COVID-19 among 2020 Arbaeen participants, and establish associations between COVID-19 test results, symptoms, and known recent exposure. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study involving participants who joined Arbaeen walk in Iraq in October 2020. COVID-19 PCR and/or rapid antibody test were conducted among consented participants. A short questionnaire was administered. Rapid antibody testing was done onsite. Nasal and throat swab samples were transferred to the laboratory for PCR testing. RESULTS A total of 835 (88.3% male; 11.7% female) participants were recruited. The most common symptom overall was cough (9.6%) followed by sore throat, fever, and loss of taste/smell (6.6%, 5.5%, and 5.0%, respectively). One in five (20.3%) participants reported close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case in the past 14 days. Of the 237 participants with a PCR test, 18 (7.6%) were positive. Of the 765 participants with rapid antibody test, 19.3% tested positive for IgM, 39.3% for IgG, and 16.4% for both. Approximately 40% of the participants had evidence of current or past COVID-19 infection based on antibody and PCR. CONCLUSIONS The almost 1 in 10 COVID-19 cases within such a multimillion person gathering, illustrates the difficulty in limiting the participation of infectious individuals in religious mass gatherings. There is a pressing need to explore measures to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases at major mass gathering events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farah Al-Ansari
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
| | - Basma Al-Ansari
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
| | | | - Harunor Rashid
- The Children's Hospital at Westmead, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), Westmead, NSW, Australia
| | - Grant A Hill-Cawthorne
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
| | | | | | - Mohammad Mawash
- Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Kufa, Najaf, Iraq
| | - Mustafa Al Ansari
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
| | - Katherine M Conigrave
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
- Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Drug Health Services, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
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mRNA Vaccines as an Efficient Approach for the Rapid and Robust Induction of Host Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2. SN COMPREHENSIVE CLINICAL MEDICINE 2022; 4:88. [PMID: 35402783 PMCID: PMC8975617 DOI: 10.1007/s42399-022-01168-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Among the currently used COVID-19 vaccines, the mRNA-based vaccines drew the interest of the scientists because of its potent and versatile nature in mitigating the disease efficiently through increased translation as well as the robust modulation of the innate and adaptive immune responses within the host. The naked or lipid encapsulated mRNAs are usually optimized in order to formulate the vaccine. One of the interesting advantage of using mRNA vaccines is that such platform can even be used to mitigate other infectious diseases like influenza, zika, and rabies. However, the leading COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, i.e., mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2, have already been noticed to possess around 95% efficacy in provoking both the humoral and cell mediated immunity against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, causing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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Noor R, Shareen S, Billah M. COVID-19 vaccines: their effectiveness against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its emerging variants. BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTRE 2022; 46:96. [PMID: 35431535 PMCID: PMC8991668 DOI: 10.1186/s42269-022-00787-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The world has been suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic (officially declared by WHO in March 2020), caused by the severe acute respiratory β-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) since the last week of December 2019. The disease was initially designated as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020. In order to protect the health of mass public, an array of research on drugs and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 has been conducted globally. However, the emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, i.e., Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1), and Delta (B.1.617.2) variants which evolved in late 2020 and the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) which emerged in November 2021 along with its subvariant BA.2 which was first identified in India and South Africa in late December 2021, have raised the doubt about the efficiency of the currently used vaccines especially in terms of the consistent potential to produce neutralizing antibodies targeting the viral spike (S) protein. MAIN BODY OF THE ABSTRACT The present review discussed the functional details of major vaccines regarding their efficiency against such variants during the pandemic. Overall, the mRNA vaccines have shown around 94% effectiveness; the adenovector vaccine showed approximately 70% efficacy, whereas Sputnik V vaccines showed around 92% effectiveness; the inactivated whole-virus vaccine CoronaVac/PiCoVacc and BBIBP-CorV showed a varying effectiveness of 65-86% according to the geographic locations; the subunit vaccine NVX-CoV2373 has shown 60-89% effectiveness along with the global regions against the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 strain. However, reduced effectiveness of these vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 variants was noticed which is suggestive for the further administration of booster dose. SHORT CONCLUSION Maximum variants of SARS-CoV-2 emerged during the second wave of COVID-19; and extensive studies on the viral genomic sequences from all geographical locations around the world have been conducted by an array of groups to assess the possible occurrence of mutations(s) specially within the receptor binding domain of the viral spike (S) protein. Mutational similarities and the new or critical mutations within all variants have been clearly identified so far. The study of effectiveness of the currently used vaccines is also ongoing. The persistence of memory B cell action and the other immune components as well as the administration of booster dose is expected to mitigate the disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rashed Noor
- Department of Life Sciences (DLS), School of Environment and Life Sciences (SELS), Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), Plot 16, Block B, Aftabuddin Ahmed Road, Bashundhara, Dhaka, 1229 Bangladesh
| | - Saadia Shareen
- Department of Life Sciences (DLS), School of Environment and Life Sciences (SELS), Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), Plot 16, Block B, Aftabuddin Ahmed Road, Bashundhara, Dhaka, 1229 Bangladesh
| | - Muntasir Billah
- Department of Cardiology, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Northern Sydney Local Health District, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Australia
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