Guidance for conducting and evaluating serological surveys to assess interruption of yaws transmission in the context of an eradication target

Mitjà, Oriol and Gass, Katherine and Marks, Michael and Cooper, Philip J and Diggle, Peter J and Waller, Lance and Agana-Nsiire, Patrick and Dofitas, Belen Lardizabal and Dyson, Louise and Jacobson, Julie and Kaldor, John and Kim, Sung Hye and Vaz Nery, Susana and Revankar, Chandrakant and Sopoh, Ghislain and Solomon, Anthony W and Dagne, Daniel Argaw and Pathak, Priya and Yajima, Aya and Lin, Zaw and Barogui, Mahoutondji Yves Thierry and Scholte, Ronaldo Carvalho and Sanikullah, Kazim Hizbullah and Drakeley, Chris and Stresman, Gillian and Gyapong, John and Asiedu, Kingsley Bampoe (2025) Guidance for conducting and evaluating serological surveys to assess interruption of yaws transmission in the context of an eradication target. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 19 (4): e0012899. ISSN 1935-2727

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Abstract

This document provides a summary of guidance developed for national programmes on conducting serosurveys to assess yaws transmission status, with the objective of confirming yaws seroprevalence below 1% at each of three serosurveys over a period of 3-10 years after reporting the last case of active yaws in a region. It proposes active testing of children aged 1-5 years through population-based surveys and includes recommendations on survey design, sample size determination, sampling of primary sampling units (PSUs) within an evaluation unit, sampling of households within PSUs, integration with existing public health surveys, and follow-up protocols for positive results. Geospatial analysis and sustained surveillance are recommended for accurate assessment of whether transmission interruption has been achieved.