Assessment of the factors associated with flavivirus seroprevalence in a population in Southern Vietnam

Abstract

Dengue and Japanese encephalitis flaviviruses cause severe disease and are hyperendemic in southern Vietnam. This study assesses associations between sociodemographic factors and flavivirus seroprevalence in this region. Sera were collected from 308 community and hospital-based subjects between April 1996 and August 1997 and tested with an indirect ELISA. The factors associated with seroprevalence were assessed using multivariate logistic regression. In this first report of adjusted prevalence odds ratios (POR) for flavivirus infection in Vietnam, seropositivity was associated with increasing age in children (multiple regression coefficients for a child compared to an adult =−4·975 and for age in children = 0·354) and residence in the city compared to surrounding rural districts. The association with age indicates that subjects were most likely to have acquired infection in early childhood. This is key to the design of Vietnamese health education and immunization programmes.