Learning from Pandemics in the Americas: The Dominican Republic Programmatic Response Against a novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Microbiol Resour Announc

Riego²,

Vallejo-Degaudenzi

et al. 2021

Here, we report the genome sequences of five severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains that were obtained from symptomatic individuals with travel histories during community surveillance in the Dominican Republic in 2020. These sequences provide a starting point for further genomic studies of gene flow and molecular diversity in the Caribbean nation. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that all genomes correspond to the B.1 variant.

Section: Announcementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whole-Genome Sequences of SARS-CoV-2 Isolates from the Dominican Republic

Microbiol Resour Announc

Riego²,

Vallejo-Degaudenzi

et al. 2021

“…The Dominican Republic has implemented prevention and management programs for vector-borne infectious diseases like Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya for many years (1,2). This experience notwithstanding, the most recent Global Health Security Index (GHS) report (3) ranked the Dominican Republic in its lowest tier due to its poor capability to prevent and mitigate emerging pathogens.…”

Section: Infectious Diseasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological Responses to the COVID-19 Outbreak are Related to Trust in Public Institutions: Implications for Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Mencía-Ripley

Féliz-Matos

et al. 2021

IAJMH

Emerging pathogens, especially those related to infectious diseases require behavior change as well as engaging the population in participating in healthy behaviors. Psychological responses are thus of vital importance to disease prevention. While the stress of a pandemic has been associated to many psychological symptoms, these symptoms have not been systematically explored in a broader sociopolitical context. Psychological responses may be linked to the perceptions of health professionals and may also relate to trust in public institutions. As such, psychopathology is not only a consequence of stress associated with pandemics but rather, the result of an interplay of personal and sociopolitical contexts. This study showed that members of the general population are experiencing significant symptoms of psychological distress. Regression analyses showed that psychological distress was associated with negative attitudes towards healthcare professionals as well as distrust in public health authorities. This study is relevant because a lack of trust in health officials may impact the degree to which the population adheres to public health guidelines to prevent and manage COVID-19.

“…Strategies involving community-based seroprevalence monitoring should preclude syndromic case identification. 1 , 16 Because our study follows seroprevalence intervention in already identified hotspots by symptomatic surveillance and contact tracing, we can assume that the differences in antibody proportions in young populations suggest important pathogen circulation before community detection and intervention. We consider that an essential limitation to our study is the lack of pre-intervention serodata, and assay-related specificity/sensitivity; this might limit our understanding of any specific age-groups that may act as transmission pockets of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen before the emergence of the hotspot.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The Dominican Republic reported its first confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 on March 1, 2020. 1 As of July 23, the country had reported 57,615 confirmed cases, with 29,704 of those still active cases and a total of 1,006 deaths. 2 The Dominican Republic’s health response against this pathogen consisted of strict limitations of commercial activities, suspension of in person instruction in schools and universities, and nighttime curfews starting on March 19.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Seroprevalence of Specific Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 from Hotspot Communities in the Dominican Republic

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Báez

Degaudenzi

et al. 2020

Self Cite

. Seroprevalence surveys are of utmost importance to assess the proportion of a population that has developed antibodies against a newly introduced virus and could therefore potentially exhibit immunologic protection against subsequent infection. This study aims to understand the distribution of IgM and IgG antibodies in the Dominican Republic. We surveyed a total of 12,897 participants between April and June 2020 in 10 provinces of the Dominican Republic. Survey efforts in emerging hotspots yielded a positivity for all participants of anti–SARS-CoV-2 IgM of 3.8% and IgG of 5.4%, indicating that the pathogen was in circulation before the identification of those particular communities as hotspots. We found important age differences between participants who participated in the serological study where a higher mean age is associated IgM positivity and a lower age with IgG positivity. Our results highlight the need for strategies that involve community-based seroprevalence monitoring. These should preclude syndromic case identification. Also, the higher mean age of IgM-positive participants suggests that strategies based on syndromic surveillance could identify hotspots at later phases, based on the number of cases detected at the healthcare center, as such community-based seroprevalence monitoring may be an effective intervention for future outbreaks.