Publications by authors named "Prameela Dinesh"
Assessing the Burden of COVID-19 among Children Aged 6-14 Years in Karnataka, India: A Cross-sectional Survey.
Indian J Community Med
January 2024
Article Synopsis
- India faced three COVID-19 waves, with the third wave linked to the contagious Omicron variant, prompting a study to assess the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in children aged 6 to 14 in Karnataka before vaccinations began.
- The research involved surveying 5,358 children across 232 health facilities in Karnataka, testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and active infection through IgG testing and RT-PCR, respectively.
- Results indicated a 75.38% seroprevalence of IgG among children and a low active infection rate of 0.04%, revealing the presence of Omicron variants BA.5 and BA.2.10 in the population.
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ijregi.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Demonstrate the feasibility of using the existing sentinel surveillance infrastructure to conduct the second round of the serial cross-sectional sentinel-based population survey. Assess active infection, seroprevalence, and their evolution in the general population across Karnataka. Identify local variations for locally appropriate actions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe burden of active infection and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in the general population: Results from a statewide sentinel-based population survey in Karnataka, India.
Int J Infect Dis
July 2021
Objective: To estimate the burden of active infection and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in Karnataka, India, and to assess variation across geographical regions and risk groups.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 16,416 people covering three risk groups was conducted between 3-16 September 2020 using the state of Karnataka's infrastructure of 290 healthcare facilities across all 30 districts. Participants were further classified into risk subgroups and sampled using stratified sampling.
Background: The huge surge in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka state, India, during early phase of the pandemic especially following return of residents from other states and countries required investigation with respect to transmission dynamics, clinical status, demographics, comorbidities and mortality. Knowledge on the role of symptomatic and asymptomatic cases in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was not available.
Methods: The study included all the cases reported from March 8 - May 31, 2020.
Article Synopsis
- Karnataka reported its first COVID-19 case on March 8, 2020, and by May 21, 2020, had documented 1,578 cases, tracing the virus's spread through contact tracing and genomic analysis.
- Researchers identified 91 SARS-CoV-2 genomes belonging to seven lineages, primarily linked to regions like China, Europe, and Iran, suggesting the virus was imported through travel.
- The study found a pattern of local transmission with most cases being symptomatic and highlighted the importance of combining genomic data with epidemiological insights for effective outbreak management.