The western mesoregion of the state of Santa Catarina (SC), Southern Brazil, was heavily affected as a whole by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021. This study aimed to evaluate the dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreading patterns in the SC state from March 2020 to April 2021 using genomic surveillance. During this period, there were 23 distinct variants, including Beta and Gamma, among which the Gamma and related lineages were predominant in the second pandemic wave within SC. A regionalization of P.1-like-II in the Western SC region was observed, concomitant to the increase in cases, mortality, and the case fatality rate (CFR) index. This is the first evidence of the regionalization of the SARS-CoV-2 transmission in SC and it highlights the importance of tracking the variants, dispersion, and impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the public health systems.
COVID-19 has assumed significant and lasting proportions worldwide. Following initial cases in the Western mesoregion, the State of Santa Catarina (SC), southern Brazil, was heavily affected as a whole by the pandemic in early 2021. This study aimed to evaluate the dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreading patterns in the SC state through March 2020 to April 2021 using genomic surveillance. During this period, 23 distinct variants, including two VOCs (Beta and Gamma) were identified, among which, the Gamma and related lineages were predominant in the second pandemic wave within SC. However, a regionalization of P.1-like-II in the Western region was observed, concomitant to the increase in cases, mortality, and case fatality rate (CFR) index. This is the first evidence of the regionalization of the SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the and highlight the importance of tracking variants, dispersion and their impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the public health system in Brazilian states.
Os vírus entéricos são vírus não envelopados que se replicam no trato gastrointestinal e apresentam transmissão fecal-oral. Estão, portanto, associados às más condições de saneamento básico e controles sanitários. As infecções por vírus entéricos podem causar enfermidades em indivíduos susceptíveis, principalmente crianças com idade inferior aos dez anos. Estas enfermidades estão associadas ao consumo de água e alimentos contaminados devido ao descarte inadequado de esgotos e águas residuais. A legislação brasileira não inclui a análise de vírus entéricos para determinar a qualidade da água, apenas padrões bacterianos, recomendando a análise de vírus apenas em caso de surtos de veiculação hídrica. Os vírus entéricos, por terem característica proteica e serem não-envelopados permanecem com capacidade infecciosa no ambiente, mesmo em contato com cloro, salinidade e aumentos de temperatura. Neste sentido, o presente capítulo apresenta uma introdução aos vírus entéricos, destacando sua presença em águas, alimentos e em efluentes de humanos e animais, considerando a necessidade do seu monitoramento para fins de segurança sanitária.
SARS-CoV-2 genome surveillance is important for monitoring risk groups and health workers as well as data on new cases and mortality rate due to COVID-19. We characterized the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants from May 2021 to April 2022 in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, and evaluated the similarity between variants present in the population and healthcare workers (HCW). A total of 5291 sequenced genomes demonstrated the circulation of 55 strains and four variants of concern (Alpha, Delta, Gamma and Omicron—sublineages BA.1 and BA.2). The number of cases was relatively low in May 2021, but the number of deaths was higher with the Gamma variant. There was a significant increase in both numbers between December 2021 and February 2022, peaking in mid-January 2022, when the Omicron variant dominated. After May 2021, two distinct variant groups (Delta and Omicron) were observed, equally distributed among the five Santa Catarina mesoregions. Moreover, from November 2021 to February 2022, similar variant profiles between HCW and the general population were observed, and a quicker shift from Delta to Omicron in HCW than in the general population. This demonstrates the importance of HCW as a sentinel group for monitoring disease trends in the general population.
O surgimento de patógenos ao longo da história evolutiva que utilizam vias
ambientais de infecção/contaminação denotou a necessidade das ferramentas de
monitoramento. Em meio a pandemia de COVID-19, causada pelo vírus SARS-CoV-2, a detecção
do RNA viral no esgoto bruto tornou-se possível e útil como uma ferramenta
epidemiológica, já que o vírus é excretado pelas fezes humanas. Métodos focados na
detecção do RNA viral (técnicas baseadas em biologia molecular) e de partículas virais
infecciosas (por cultura celular) foram utilizados para a detecção do SARS-CoV-2 em
amostras de secreção de pacientes infectados. O monitoramento se mostra eficaz para
compreender a circulação de vírus que utilizam rota fecal-oral, podendo antecipar
futuros surtos em regiões específicas. Além disso, possibilita a observação das mutações
e variantes em circulação num dado momento, através do sequenciamento. Este capítulo é
um reporte das bases da ferramenta epidemiológica para o monitoramento viral em esgoto
sanitário implementada pelo Laboratório de Virologia Aplicada da Universidade Federal de
Santa Catarina, denominado “VigEAI” - Vigilância Epidemiológica Ambiental
Integrativa.
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