COVID-19 Community Transmission and Super Spreaders in Rural Villages from Manabi Province in the Coastal Region of Ecuador Assessed by Massive Testing of Community-Dwelling Population.
Am J Trop Med Hyg
; 106(1): 121-126, 2021 11 17.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1524349
ABSTRACT
Neglected rural communities in Latin America are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to a poor health infrastructure and limited access to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) diagnosis. Manabí is a province of the Coastal Region of Ecuador characterized by a high prevalence of rural population living under poverty conditions. In the current study, we present the retrospective analysis of the results of a massive SARS-CoV-2 testing operation in nonhospitalized populations from Manabí carried out from August to September 2020. A total of 4,003 people from 15 cantons were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by reverse-transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction, resulting in an overall infection rate of 16.13% for SARS-CoV-2, with several communities > 30%. Moreover, 29 SARS-CoV-2 super-spreader community-dwelling individuals with viral loads above 108 copies/mL were found. These results support that uncontrolled COVID-19 community transmission was happening in Manabí during the first semester of COVID-19 pandemic. This report endorses the utility of massive SARS-CoV-2 testing among asymptomatic population for control and surveillance of COVID-19.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Rural Population
/
COVID-19 Testing
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Ecuador
Language:
English
Journal:
Am J Trop Med Hyg
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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