Detection and quantification of sars-cov-2 wastewater treatment plants from different cities in chile, towards to a permanent sentinel surveillance.

Background: The quantification of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater is a tool that allows determining the trend of viral circulation in a particular geographical area. Aim(s): To quantify the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 15 wastewater treatment plants in different Chilean cities to establish a comparison with the variables of: I) Active cases per 100,000 inhabitants;ii) daily positivity (novel cases);and iii) phases of the lockdown strategy. Method(s): SARS-CoV-2 was concentrated from wastewater samples. To obtain the number of virus genomes per liter, absolute quantification was performed using qRT-PCR. Result(s): Between January and June 2021, 253 samples were processed, all of which were positive for the presence of the virus. Likewise, it will be determined that the rate of active cases per 100,000 inhabitants is the variable that best fits the trends obtained with the quantification of the viral load in wastewater. Conclusion(s): The quantification of SARS- CoV-2 in wastewater as a continuous strategy is an efficient tool to determine the trend of the viral circulation in a delimited geographical area and, combined with genomic surveillance, it can constitute an ideal sentinel surveillance alert on future outbreaks.Copyright © 2022, Sociedad Chilena de Infectologia. All rights reserved.

Professional performance and working conditions in primary health careinside the northeast Brazil

The COVID-19 Pandemic highlighted the need to understand and improve the working conditions of health professionals, in addition to Individual Protection Equipment, as these workers oftenface precarious working conditions. This studysought to investigate the professional performance and working conditions of Primary Health Care professionals in the interior of the Brazilian Northeast. This is a qualitative-quantitative, transversal, descriptive research, carried out through semi-structured interviews. Of the 86 participants, 60% (n=52) were Community Health Agents, 15% (n=13) nursing technicians, 12% (n=10) nurses, 7% (n= 6) physicians, 3% (n=3) oral health technicians and 2% (n=2) dentists. Itwas observed that, in the work of professionals, there are still problems that compromise the guarantee of health care for populations in the interior of the Northeast region, such as the scarcity of human and material resources, work overload, or even the precariousness of infrastructure. Ensuring adequate working conditions is essential to strengthen the prevention and health promotion of the Brazilian population, even more so, in the current moment of facing the pandemic and the reduction in SUS funding.