More than a third of the samples have already been collected. Since the beginning of the study on serological tests in RS, the medical faculties in Foča and Banja Luka have collected about 700 blood samples, and the first preliminary results of this study on the territory of RS can be expected around the New Year.
This national study on the seroprevalence of covid-19 infection in the RS population, which is important because it will provide insight into the collective immunity of RS citizens to the coronavirus, started in early November.
Dejan Bokonjić, dean of the Medical Faculty in Foča, said that this faculty in the Foča region has taken about 300 samples so far.
“We have already started collecting samples from the Sarajevo-Romanija region and the Zvornik region,” Bokonjić said.
He added that in the first phase, they planned to take about 1,700 samples, but that the number of collected samples maybe even higher.
“About 660 families in RS will be tested, which are selected by the method of random selection. We expect to have more than 1,700 samples, but that only means that we will have a safer sample,” Bokonjić said.
The study on serological testing of the population in RS is conducted jointly by the medical faculties in Foča and Banja Luka and the Institute of Public Health of RS.
Bokonjić added that the Faculty of Medicine in Foča takes samples in Herzegovina, Sarajevo-Romanija, Zvornik, and Foča regions.
“The RS Institute of Public Health is taking samples from the Bijeljina and Doboj regions, and the Medical Faculty in Banja Luka is taking samples from the western and northern RS,” Bokonjić concluded.
Ranko Škrbić, dean of the Medical Faculty in Banja Luka, said that more than 400 samples have been processed in the laboratory for the microbiology of the Medical Faculty in Banja Luka so far.
He added that about 80 blood samples arrived in the laboratory of this faculty yesterday and that two medical faculties in RS have collected about 700 samples so far.
“It is too early to say what the results are, what is the prevalence and infection of the population because the samples are still being processed. When we process the samples, we submit the findings to family medicine teams to inform their patients who participated in the survey,” said Škrbić.
He pointed out that they expect to have samples from most of RS and be able to talk about the first results around the New Year.
In FBiH, 1,100 respondents were tested
In the FBiH, testing of about 1,100 respondents is planned as part of serological testing of the population, which began in early November.
This research is conducted by the FBiH Institute of Public Health in cooperation with the FBiH Institute of Transfusion Medicine.
“Preliminary results of the study are expected at the end of the year,” it was said from the FBiH Institute of Public Health.
They added that the study will be conducted on blood donors who agree to participate in the study.
TST