Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Dec:13:100267.
doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2021.100267. Epub 2021 May 25.

Crucial contribution of the universities to SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Ecuador: Lessons for developing countries

Daniela Santander-Gordon  1 , Gabriel A Iturralde  1 , Byron Freire-Paspuel  1 , Marlon S Zambrano-Mila  1 , Diana Morales-Jadan  1   2 , Paolo A Vallejo-Janeta  1 , Barbara Coronel  1 , Heberson Galvis  1 , Tatiana Jaramillo-Vivanco  1 , Christian D Bilvao  1 , Maria Belen Paredes-Espinosa  1 , Angel S Rodriguez  1 , Juan C Laglaguano  1 , Henry Herrera  1 , Ana M Tito-Alvarez  1   3 , Esteban Ortiz-Prado  2 , Ismar A Rivera-Olivero  2 , Aquiles R Henriquez-Trujillo  2 , Tannya Lozada  1 , Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain  1   2 ; "The UDLA-COVID-19 Team"
Affiliations
Review

Crucial contribution of the universities to SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Ecuador: Lessons for developing countries

Daniela Santander-Gordon et al. One Health. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has challenged public health systems worldwide, particularly affecting developing countries in Latin America like Ecuador. In this report, we exposed the fundamental role of the Ecuadorian universities to improve COVID-19 surveillance in the country, with an overall contribution over 15% of the total SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests done. We highlight the role of our university during the first semester of the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to a massive free SARS-CoV-2 testing up to almost 10% of the total diagnosis completed in the country, mainly focus on underserved urban, rural and indigenous communities. Finally, we described our contribution to a high quality and low-cost SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR diagnostic in Ecuador.

Keywords: Ecuador; Neglected communities; RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2; Surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests done by “Universidad de Las Américas” among 18 provinces of Ecuador.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ortiz-Prado E., Simbaña-Rivera K., Gómez-Barreno L., Rubio-Neira M., Guaman L.P., Kyriakidis N.C., Muslin C., Jaramillo A.M.G., Barba-Ostria C., Cevallos-Robalino D., Sanches-SanMiguel H., Unigarro L., Zalakeviciute R., Gadian N., López-Cortés A. Clinical, molecular, and epidemiological characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a comprehensive literature review. Diagn. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 2020 Sep;98(1):115094. doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2020.115094. (Epub 2020 May 30) - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ortiz-Prado E., Simbaña-Rivera K., Barreno L.G., Diaz A.M., Barreto A., Moyano C., Arcos V., Vásconez-González E., Paz C., Simbaña-Guaycha F., Molestina-Luzuriaga M., Fernández-Naranjo R., Feijoo J., Henriquez-Trujillo A.R., Adana L., López-Cortés A., Fletcher I., Lowe R. Epidemiological, socio-demographic and clinical features of the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Ecuador. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2021 Jan 4;15(1) doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008958. (eCollection 2021 Jan) - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hotez P.J., Huete-Perez J.A., Bottazzi M.E. COVID-19 in the Americas and the erosion of human rights for the poor. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2020;14(12) - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bolletin Epidemiologico COVID-19 Ministerio de Salud Pública. September 2020. https://www.salud.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Boletin-196_Nacional... Avalaible at.
    1. Ortiz-Prado Esteban, Henriquez-Trujillo Aquiles R., Rivera-Olivero Ismar A., Lozada Tannya, Miguel Angel Garcia-Bereguiain, on behalf of the UDLA-COVID-19 Team High prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among food delivery riders. A case study from Quito, Ecuador. Sci. Total Environ. 2021;770:145225. - PMC - PubMed