Seroprevalence of neutralizing antibodies against dengue virus in two localities in the state of Morelos, Mexico

Abstract

Humoral immune response against dengue virus (DENV) is an important component in dengue-endemic transmission. We conducted a cross-sectional nested cohort study to determine the seroprevalence and frequency of neutralizing antibodies against DENV serotypes in two endemic localities in the state of Morelos, Mexico. The cohort participants (N = 1,196) were screened to determine previous exposure to DENV. Overall seroprevalence was 76.6% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 73.6-79.2), and prevalence of neutralizing antibodies in the 5- to 9-year-old group was 82.5% (95% CI = 67.2-92.7), 45% (95% CI = 29.3-61.5), and 65% (95% CI = 48.3-79.4) for DENV-1, DENV-2, and DENV-3, respectively. For participants older than 10 years, the observed seroprevalence was above 60% for each serotype, except DENV-4 in the 10- to 25-year-old group (42.9%); 81% of humoral responses were multitypic. The outcomes of our study contribute to understanding the immune component of dengue transmission and provide focal information for the evaluation of vaccine candidates under development.

© The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Figures

Figure 1.

Global seroprevalence of IgG against DENV by quinquennium in the localities of Axochiapan and Tepalcingo, Morelos, Mexico (2011). The graph shows the percentage of seroprevalence by quinquennium with 95% CI (error bars).

Figure 2.

Seroprevalence per serotype against DENV per age group. Distribution of the seroprevalence by serotype per age group. The error bars are 95% CI. *Statistically significant differences.

Figure 3.

Logarithm of neutralizing antibody titers against the four DENV serotypes (PRNT60). Mann–Whitney test. The error bars are 95% CI.

Figure 4.

Logarithm of neutralizing antibody titers against the four DENV serotypes in recently infected and non-infected subjects (PRNT60). Mann–Whitney test. Comparison the logarithm of neutralizing antibody titers between recently infected and non-infected subjects. The error bars are 95% CI. *P = 0.0005 for DENV-1 infected (N = 38) versus DENV-1 (N = 99) not recently infected.

Figure 5.

Neutralizing antibody titers per DENV serotype with respect to the type of response of the individuals. Mann–Whitney test. Comparison the logarithm of neutralizing antibody titers between homotypic and multitypic subjects. The error bars are 95% CI. *P < 0.0001 for homotypic response (N = 25) versus multitypic response (N = 111). **P < 0.005 for homotypic response for DENV-3 (N = 25) versus multitypic response for DENV-3 (N = 111).