Multi-pathogen serosurveillance in Papua New Guinea

Strengthening routine surveillance of infectious diseases is a high priority in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

A major challenge is the lack of cost-effective point of care diagnostics and the range of samples required for direct detection of pathogens through molecular techniques. Integrated serological surveillance based on the detection of antibodies to concurrent or previous parasite, viral and bacterial infections is a complementary approach that can provide a cost-effective laboratory-based solution to strengthening surveillance for malaria, respiratory viruses (including COVID-19), neglected tropical diseases (such as lymphatic filariasis, dengue, chikungunya, zika and strongyloides) and vaccine preventable diseases (such as measles and polio).

This project will use bead-based multiplex Luminex® assays capable of measuring antibodies to many antigens from the same sample to optimise and validate a fit-for-purpose multi-pathogen serological assay for use in PNG. This will be conducted using existing cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys that have been conducted in areas of PNG where endemic or epidemic transmission of these pathogens coexists. The incorporation of integrated multi-pathogen serosurveillance into an ongoing program of febrile illness sentinel surveillance will strengthen the breadth and quality of data available for programmatic decision-making.