Misinformation, knowledge and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: a cross-sectional study among health care workers and the general population in Kampala, Uganda

COVID-19 has greatly affected communities worldwide, more so in low- and middle-income countries. To successfully resolve the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination coverage of more than 80% is required. However, misinformation has affected this by increasing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Limited studies have assessed the effect of COVID-19 misinformation on vaccine acceptance, especially in Africa. This study assessed people's knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccine and the effect of misinformation on vaccine uptake among healthcare workers (HCWs) versus the general population in Uganda. Methods This was a cross-sectional quantitative study conducted from January 2022 to June 2022, and involved healthcare workers (HCWs) and the general population of Kampala, Uganda. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. We recruited 564 study participants, including 311 healthcare workers (HCWs) and 253 from the general population. Data were analyzed using frequency distributions and Chi-square tests. SPSS version 22.0 was used to conduct all study analyses. Results This study revealed that the proportion of vaccinated HCWs (77.4%) was significantly higher than that of the vaccinated general population (64.4%, p = 0.010). Nearly all study participants were aware of COVID-19 vaccines (96.7%). The research revealed that a large proportion of the participants (89.7%) encountered rumors regarding unverified adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccine. This information significantly contributed to vaccine hesitancy, with 81.1% expressing reluctance to receive the vaccine, and 55% stating their unwillingness to get vaccinated. Misinformation affected people's vaccine acceptance, affecting their willingness to receive vaccines if unvaccinated and potentially influencing their receptiveness to future vaccines or boosters if already vaccinated.  Conclusions The study showed a negative impact of misinformation on vaccine uptake and could be the most significant contributor to vaccine hesitancy in future vaccine programs.

Reduced CCR5 expression among Uganda HIV controllers

BACKGROUND

Several mechanisms including reduced CCR5 expression, protective HLA, viral restriction factors, broadly neutralizing antibodies, and more efficient T-cell responses, have been reported to account for HIV control among HIV controllers. However, no one mechanism universally accounts for HIV control among all controllers. In this study we determined whether reduced CCR5 expression accounts for HIV control among Ugandan HIV controllers. We determined CCR5 expression among Ugandan HIV controllers compared with treated HIV non-controllers through ex-vivo characterization of CD4 + T cells isolated from archived PBMCs collected from the two distinct groups.

RESULTS

The percentage of CCR5 + CD4 + T cells was similar between HIV controllers and treated HIV non-controllers (ECs vs. NCs, P = 0.6010; VCs vs. NCs, P = 0.0702) but T cells from controllers had significantly reduced CCR5 expression on their cell surface (ECs vs. NCs, P = 0.0210; VCs vs. NCs, P = 0.0312). Furthermore, we identified rs1799987 SNP among a subset of HIV controllers, a mutation previously reported to reduce CCR5 expression. In stark contrast, we identified the rs41469351 SNP to be common among HIV non-controllers. This SNP has previously been shown to be associated with increased perinatal HIV transmission, vaginal shedding of HIV-infected cells and increased risk of death.

CONCLUSION

CCR5 has a non-redundant role in HIV control among Ugandan HIV controllers. HIV controllers maintain high CD4 + T cells despite being ART naïve partly because their CD4 + T cells have significantly reduced CCR5 densities.

Pre-pandemic SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-γ and antibody responses were low in Ugandan samples and significantly reduced in HIV-positive specimens

Introduction

We investigated whether prior SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-γ and antibody responses in Ugandan COVID-19 pre-pandemic specimens aligned to this population's low disease severity.

Methods

We used nucleoprotein (N), spike (S), NTD, RBD, envelope, membrane, SD1/2-directed IFN-γ ELISpots, and an S- and N-IgG antibody ELISA to screen for SARS-CoV-2-specific cross-reactivity.

Results

HCoV-OC43-, HCoV-229E-, and SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-γ occurred in 23, 15, and 17 of 104 specimens, respectively. Cross-reactive IgG was more common against the nucleoprotein (7/110, 15.5%; p = 0.0016, Fishers' Exact) than the spike (3/110, 2.72%). Specimens lacking anti-HuCoV antibodies had higher rates of pre-epidemic SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-γ cross-reactivity (p-value = 0.00001, Fishers' exact test), suggesting that exposure to additional factors not examined here might play a role. SARS-CoV-2-specific cross-reactive antibodies were significantly less common in HIV-positive specimens (p=0.017; Fishers' Exact test). Correlations between SARS-CoV-2- and HuCoV-specific IFN-γ responses were consistently weak in both HIV negative and positive specimens.

Discussion

These findings support the existence of pre-epidemic SARS-CoV-2-specific cellular and humoral cross-reactivity in this population. The data do not establish that these virus-specific IFN-γ and antibody responses are entirely specific to SARS-CoV-2. Inability of the antibodies to neutralise SARS-CoV-2 implies that prior exposure did not result in immunity. Correlations between SARS-CoV-2 and HuCoV-specific responses were consistently weak, suggesting that additional variables likely contributed to the pre-epidemic cross-reactivity patterns. The data suggests that surveillance efforts based on the nucleoprotein might overestimate the exposure to SARS-CoV-2 compared to inclusion of additional targets, like the spike protein. This study, while limited in scope, suggests that HIV-positive people are less likely than HIV-negative people to produce protective antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

No association of a Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) gene polymorphism with pre-eclampsia among pregnant women in Uganda

BACKGROUND

Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) is a major angiogenic factor that plays an important role in the formation of blood vessels during embryonic development. VEGFA has been implicated in the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia (PE), since pre-eclamptic women present with reduced levels of free circulating VEGFA. The 3' untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the VEGFA gene consists of elements that regulate the transcription and hence expression of the VEGFA protein in circulation. Hence it is suggested that variations thereof could underlie the reduced VEGFA levels observed in pre-eclamptic women. The purpose of this study was to investigate presence of the + 936C/T polymorphism, a common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the 3'-UTR of the VEGFA gene, and determine its association with PE among pregnant women in Uganda.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference observed in the allele and genotype frequencies of the + 936C/T 3' UTR-VEGFA polymorphism between pre-eclamptic and normotensive pregnant women (P > 0.05). Additionally, there was no significant difference in the median plasma levels of free VEGFA among women with the wild type, CT and TT genotypes of the + 936C/T VEGFA polymorphism (median = 0.84 pg/mL (IQR = 0.39-1.41) Vs 1.05 (0.61-1.18) Vs 1.05 (1.05-1.05) respectively, p-value = 0.7161).

CONCLUSIONS

These study findings indicate that the + 936C/T 3' UTR-VEGFA polymorphism had no significant association with increased susceptibility to PE among women in Uganda. Further studies with a larger sample size are recommended.

Immunologic, metabolic and genetic impact of diabetes on tuberculosis susceptibility

Due to the increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) globally, the interaction between DM and major global diseases like tuberculosis (TB) is of great public health significance, with evidence of DM having about a three-fold risk for TB disease. TB defense may be impacted by diabetes-related effects on immunity, metabolism, and gene transcription. An update on the epidemiological aspects of DM and TB, and the recent trends in understanding the DM-associated immunologic, metabolic, and genetic mechanisms of susceptibility to TB will be discussed in this review. This review highlights gaps in the incomplete understanding of the mechanisms that may relate to TB susceptibility in type 2 DM (T2DM). Understanding these three main domains regarding mechanisms of TB susceptibility in T2DM patients can help us build practical treatment plans to lessen the combined burden of the diseases in rampant areas.

Circulating levels of angiogenic factors and their association with preeclampsia among pregnant women at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda

Preeclampsia (PE) is a major cause of maternal and new-born morbidity and mortality. Angiogenic factors contribute a major role in the vascular dysfunction associated with PE. We investigated the circulating levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), placental growth factor (PlGF) and soluble Feline McDonough Sarcoma (fms)-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt1), their association with PE and diagnostic performance of disease among pregnant women in Uganda. Using a case-control study design, 106 women with PE and 106 with normal pregnancy were enrolled. Demographic and clinical characteristics, and anticoagulated blood samples were collected from participants. Plasma VEGF, PlGF and sFlt1 levels were measured using Luminex and enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Conditional logistic regression was used to explore association of angiogenic factors with PE and receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to investigate PE diagnostic performance. Levels of VEGF and PIGF were significantly lower in cases compared to controls (VEGF: median = 0.71 pg/ml (IQR = 0.38-1.11) Vs 1.20 pg/ml (0.64-1.91), p-value<0.001 and PlGF: 2.20 pg/ml (1.08-5.86) Vs 84.62 pg/ml (34.00-154.45), p-value<0.001). Plasma levels of sFlt1 were significantly higher in cases than controls (median = 141.13 (71.76-227.10) x103 pg/ml Vs 19.86 (14.20-29.37) x103 pg/ml). Increasing sFlt1 levels were associated with increased likelihood of PE (aOR = 4.73; 95% CI, 1.18-19.01; p-value = 0.0287). The sFlt1/PlGF ratio and sFlt1 had a better performance for diagnosis of PE, with AUC = 0.95 (95% CI, 0.93-0.98) followed by PlGF with AUC = 0.94 (95% CI, 0.91-0.97). Therefore, sFlt1, sFlt1/PlGF ratio and PlGF are potential candidates for incorporation into algorithms for PE diagnosis in the Ugandan population.