Morales-Jadán Diana, Vallejo-Janeta Alexander Paolo, Freire-Paspuel Byron, Rodriguez-Pazmiño Angel Sebastian, Rivera-Olivero Ismar, Henriquez-Trujillo Aquiles Rodrigo, Lozada Tannya, Tapia Andrés, Orlando Solón Alberto, Ortiz-Prado Esteban, Garcia-Bereguiain Miguel Angel
One Health Research Group, Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador.
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazonia, Puyo, Ecuador.
Rural Remote Health. 2024 Sep;24(3):8868. doi: 10.22605/RRH8868. Epub 2024 Sep 19.
The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected Latin American countries, with countless COVID-19 cases and deaths. In countries like Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, the public health system collapsed and the lack of testing capacity did not allow control of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, rural and Indigenous communities in these countries, particularly isolated ones like those in the Amazon Basin, were neglected in terms of access to COVID-19 testing and medical aid.
In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks among several endangered Amazonian ethnic groups during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador. From June to August 2020, 21 Amazonian communities were included in a COVID-19 surveillance led by Indigenous community leaders and non-profit organizations.
A total of 853 individuals were tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT-qPCR. A high SARS-CoV-2 infection rate of 54.05% (461 positive individuals) was found. Only one community was COVID-19 free, and the other 20 communities had severe COVID-19 outbreaks with infection rates up to 90%. For the different ethnic groups, the infection rates were 46.0% for Waoranis, 66.15% for Sionas, 49.8% for Kichwas, 54.9% for Kofans and 62.3% for Shuars. Additionally, 29 individuals had SARS-CoV-2 viral load values higher than 108 copies/mL.
Our findings confirm that Indigenous communities of Ecuadorian Amazonia were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 community transmission since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the potential occurrence of superspreading events. As the COVID-19 national surveillance program was focussed on symptomatic individuals attending hospital facilities, rural and remote Indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazonia, including endangered ethnic minorities, were neglected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
新冠疫情对拉丁美洲国家造成了深刻影响，出现了无数新冠病例和死亡。在墨西哥、巴西、秘鲁、哥伦比亚和厄瓜多尔等国，公共卫生系统崩溃，在新冠疫情的第一年，检测能力的缺乏使得无法控制严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）的传播。此外，这些国家的农村和原住民社区，尤其是像亚马逊流域那些与世隔绝的社区，在新冠检测和医疗救助方面被忽视。
在本研究中，我们回顾性分析了厄瓜多尔新冠疫情第一波期间，新冠疫情爆发对几个濒危亚马逊族群的影响。2020年6月至8月，21个亚马逊社区被纳入由原住民社区领袖和非营利组织牵头的新冠监测。
共有853人接受了逆转录定量聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）检测SARS-CoV-2感染情况。发现SARS-CoV-2感染率高达54.05%（461名阳性个体）。只有一个社区没有新冠疫情，其他20个社区出现了严重的新冠疫情爆发，感染率高达90%。对于不同族群，瓦奥拉尼人的感染率为46.0%，西奥纳人的感染率为66.15%，基切瓦人的感染率为49.8%，科范人的感染率为54.9%，舒阿尔人的感染率为62.3%。此外，29人SARS-CoV-2病毒载量值高于108拷贝/毫升。
我们的研究结果证实，自新冠疫情早期以来，厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区的原住民社区就暴露于SARS-CoV-2社区传播中，可能发生了超级传播事件。由于新冠国家监测计划侧重于前往医院设施就诊的有症状个体，在新冠疫情第一波期间，厄瓜多尔亚马逊地区的农村和偏远原住民社区，包括濒危少数民族，被忽视了。
