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. 2021 Nov 17;106(1):121-126. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.21-0582.

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.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • COVID-19 / transmission*
  • COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing / statistics & numerical data
  • COVID-19 Testing / statistics & numerical data*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Ecuador / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nasopharynx / virology
  • RNA, Viral / isolation & purification
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Rural Population*
  • SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • RNA, Viral