Impact of a public health intervention for active surveillance and mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 in a district from Buenos Aires province, Argentina: a descriptive epidemiological study

Background The first case of SARS-CoV-2 was reported in Argentina on 3 March 2020. Measures to limit the spread of the virus were implemented, including complete lockdown (26 March). Nonetheless, the virus spread throughout the country, with a first peak of almost a million cases in October. On 30 November, the government's recommendation switched from social, preventive and compulsory isolation, to social, preventive and compulsory distancing. Objectives To describe a tailored public health strategy to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and determine its behaviour in San Antonio de Areco district from Buenos Aires province (Argentina) through a private-public association. Design, setting and participants Surveillance of the virus was performed with the local healthcare system, through early identification of cases and the systematic study of each infected individual and contact, regardless of symptomatology, using telemedicine and a COVID-19-specific outpatient clinic. Real-time PCR was used for detection using both individual and pooled samples, with a 12-hour turnaround time. Results Up to 30 November, a total of 2426 suspected cases were analysed and 578 were confirmed. Surveillance of health personnel and at-risk populations proved effective, mitigating viral spread. Pooling samples allowed reduction of operator time, helped reduce costs, and allowed detection of both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. Conclusion After 8 months of protocol implementation, the strategy to intensively survey groups at higher epidemiological risk and the systematic search for asymptomatic cases with the incorporation of pooled PCR for diagnosis, in combination with individual testing, is an efficient and viable option in populations with similar characteristics, in the frame of social isolation.Fil: Crudo, Favio. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Fernández, Mariana. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez Fermepín, Marcelo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Fisiopatología y Bioquímica Clínica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Hospital de Clínicas General San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Entrocassi, Andrea Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Fisiopatología y Bioquímica Clínica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Hospital de Clínicas General San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Cardone, Karina Angela. No especifíca;Fil: Spina Markmann, Fernando. No especifíca;Fil: Periago, Maria Victoria. Fundación Mundo Sano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Chuit, Roberto. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Abril, Marcelo Claudio. Fundación Mundo Sano; Argentin

Risks for child cognitive development in rural contexts

While poverty all over the world is more typical and extreme in rural contexts, interventions to improve cognition in low socioeconomic status (SES) children are for the most part based on studies conducted in urban populations. This paper investigate how poverty and rural or urban settings affect child cognitive performance. Executive functions and non-verbal intelligence performance, as well as individual and environmental information was obtained from 131 5-year-old children. For the same level of SES, children in rural settings performed consistently worse than children in urban settings. These differences could be accounted mostly by the months of past preschool attendance and the father's completed level of education. These results should inform policies and programs for children living in rural poverty worldwide, and specially in Latin America.Fil: Hermida, Maria Julia. Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham.; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Segretin, María Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; ArgentinaFil: Goldin, Andrea Paula. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Abril, Marcelo Claudio. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; ArgentinaFil: Lipina, Sebastián Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; ArgentinaFil: Sigman, Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentin

Temperament Predicts Processing Speed in Low Socioeconomic Status Rural Preschoolers

Extreme poverty all over the world is concentrated in rural settings. However, studies about cognition in low socioeconomic status (SES) children are for the most part conducted in urban populations. This paper investigates, in a poor rural sample, what are the individual and socioenvironmental variables that make the difference in performance in a processing speed task. Forty four 5-year-old children were evaluated with a processing speed task; individual and socioenvironmental information was obtained from parents’ interviews. Higher scores in the effortful control dimension of temperament were associated with higher performance in the processing speed task. No other individual or socioenvironmental variable predicted the performance. These results showed that effortful control is important in processing speed and suggest that in low SES rural contexts, low effortful control children would require stronger interventions.Fil: Hermida, Maria Julia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Segretin, María Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: López y Rosenfeld, Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Abril, Marcelo Claudio. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Lipina, Sebastián Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Sigman, Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Universidad Nebrija; Españ

Risks for Child Cognitive Development in Rural Contexts

While poverty all over the world is more typical and extreme in rural contexts, interventions to improve cognition in low socioeconomic status (SES) children are for the most part based on studies conducted in urban populations. This paper investigate how poverty and rural or urban settings affect child cognitive performance. Executive functions and non-verbal intelligence performance, as well as individual and environmental information was obtained from 131 5-year-old children. For the same level of SES, children in rural settings performed consistently worse than children in urban settings. These differences could be accounted mostly by the months of past preschool attendance and the father’s completed level of education. These results should inform policies and programs for children living in rural poverty worldwide, and specially in Latin America

Prevalence of intestinal parasites and the absence of soil-transmitted helminths in Añatuya, Santiago del Estero, Argentina

Abstract Background Intestinal parasites (IP) have been reported in point studies from different provinces of Argentina. The presence of soil-transmitted helminths (STH) was detected in many of these studies, including varied prevalences of all five species of STH in the north were the climate is more appropriate for transmission. Nonetheless, Argentina lacks a comprehensive prevalence map of STH. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites, focusing on STH, in rural and peri-urban areas of Añatuya, Santiago del Estero Province and identifying risk factors for their transmission. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey in the entire population of three rural lots located on the outskirts of the city between March and June of 2015 and among children in a peri-urban neighbourhood of Añatuya city in July 2016. Socio-economic variables, characteristics of the house and stool samples were collected from each household. Results A total of 470 stool samples were analysed. The prevalence of STH was extremely low, with only 2 people being positive for hookworm and no detection of other STH. The prevalence of IP was 11.7% for protozoans and 11.1% for helminths. IP were significantly more prevalent in pre-school and school-aged children than in adults (P < 0.05). The level of education of adults was also significantly associated with infection (P = 0.001), as well as the practice of informal slaughter of animals (P = 0.002) and the presence of unimproved walls (P = 0.046) and unimproved floors (P = 0.021) in the household. Nonetheless, the only significant predictors of IP in the logistic regression analysis were age (P < 0.001) and main source of electricity (P = 0.026). Conclusions The total prevalence of intestinal parasites in the study population was 22.6%. The intestinal parasites detected are transmitted mostly through water (Giardia lamblia) and close contact (Hymenolepis nana), evidencing the need to improve quality control in water facilities and access to improved sanitation to avoid contamination of stored water. The presence of IP was significantly associated with age (with children being more susceptible), households containing unimproved walls and those that did not have access to an electricity network

Chagas prevention and control in an endemic area from the Argentinian Gran Chaco Region: Data from 14 years of uninterrupted intervention.

BackgroundChagas Disease (ChD) is a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) affecting 6 to 7 million people worldwide, mostly from Latin America. In Argentina, a national control program has been implemented since 1962, yet there are still an estimated 1.6 million infected individuals. Control programs were based almost exclusively on entomological surveillance and chemical control of households and were not continuous given a lack of coordination and resources. Argentina´s ChD program was originally vertical and centralized; later, it was partially and, in general, unsuccessfully transferred to the provinces. Herein, we describe the implementation of a control program for ChD with an ecohealth approach in rural settlements around the city of Añatuya, Santiago del Estero.MethodsThe program included yearly household visits for entomological surveillance and control, health promotion workshops, and structural house improvements. Improved structures included internal and external walls and roofs, as well as the construction of water wells and latrines, and the organization and improvement of peri-domestic structures. Activities were carried out by specifically trained personnel except for house improvements, which were performed by the community, under technical guidance and provision of materials. Data was collected using standardized questionnaires for household characterization, entomological infestation status and chemical control activities.ResultsThis program was continuously implemented since 2005 with high community participation and adherence, incorporating 13 settlements and 502 households. During the surveillance phase, 4,193 domiciliary inspections were performed, and both the intra- and peri-domestic infestation rate were reduced from 17.9% to 0.2% (P ConclusionThe program is still ongoing and, after 14 years of implementation, has built social networks and collaboration between implementers and beneficiaries with a reduction of T. infestans infestation in the intra- and peri-domicile. This reduction, especially inside the household, has enabled access to diagnosis and treatment of the population, with minimal risk of re-infection

Risks for child cognitive development in rural Argentina

While poverty all over the world is more typical and extreme in rural contexts, interventions to improve cognition in low socioeconomic status (SES) children are for the most part based on studies conducted in urban populations. This paper investigate how poverty and rural or urban settings affect child cognitive performance. Executive functions and non-verbal intelligence performance, as well as individual and environmental information was obtained from 131 5-year-old children. For the same level of SES, children in rural settings performed consistently worse than children in urban settings. These differences could be accounted mostly by the months of past preschool attendance and the father?s completed level of education. These results should inform policies and programs for children living in rural poverty worldwide, and specially in Latin America.Fil: Hermida, Maria Julia. Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Segretin, María Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; ArgentinaFil: Goldin, Andrea Paula. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Abril, Marcelo Claudio. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Lipina, Sebastián Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. CEMIC-CONICET. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno". CEMIC-CONICET; ArgentinaFil: Sigman, Mariano. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Corrigendum: Risks for Child Cognitive Development in Rural Contexts

While poverty all over the world is more typical and extreme in rural contexts, interventions to improve cognition in low socioeconomic status (SES) children are for the most part based on studies conducted in urban populations. This paper investigate how poverty and rural or urban settings affect child cognitive performance. Executive functions and non-verbal intelligence performance, as well as individual and environmental information was obtained from 131 5-year-old children. For the same level of SES, children in rural settings performed consistently worse than children in urban settings. These differences could be accounted mostly by the months of past preschool attendance and the father’s completed level of education. These results should inform policies and programs for children living in rural poverty worldwide, and specially in Latin America.Fil: Hermida, Maria Julia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Fundación Mundo Sano; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham. Instituto de Educacion.; ArgentinaFil: Shalóm, Diego Edgar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Segretin, María Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Goldin, Andrea Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; ArgentinaFil: Abril, Marcelo Claudio. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Lipina, Sebastián Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Sigman, Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina. Universidad Nebrija; Españ

How to implement the framework for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and Chagas (EMTCT Plus) in a disperse rural population from the Gran Chaco region: A tailor-made program focused on pregnant women.

The framework for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT Plus) was proposed by the Pan American Health Organization in 2017 to all member states in order to widen the already existing framework for HIV and syphilis to include elimination of the infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Chagas disease (ChD), now called EMTCT Plus. The objective of this wider initiative is to achieve and maintain the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the infection with HIV, syphilis, ChD, and the perinatal infection by HBV as a public health problem, in line with the Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage. The EMTCT Plus framework represents an interesting challenge for member states, since it requires adequate implementation strategies to overcome health system diversities. Additionally, each country implements this framework in a different manner and according to their own national administrative structure, which can even vary within each country in federal administrations. Moreover, available data from each country constitute global national figures that do not necessarily reflect regional variations. This is the case of many intervention areas with dispersed rural populations like the Tri-Border Area between Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay located in the Gran Chaco region. Moreover, this region is a hotspot for neglected tropical diseases, not only for intestinal helminth infections but also for ChD. This is the area that will be used as an example in the current tutorial to aid others in the implementation of the framework. For this purpose, we have posed a series of statements that aim to describe the different components, based on our experience, that should be considered for implementation of this framework.Fil: Crudo, Favio. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; Argentina. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Piorno, Pablo Emiliano. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; ArgentinaFil: Krupitzki, Hugo Bernardo. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; Argentina. Centro de Educaciones Médicas e Investigación Clínica "Norberto Quirno"; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guilera, Analia. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; ArgentinaFil: López Albizu, Constanza. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología "Dr. Mario Fatala Chaben”; Argentina. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; ArgentinaFil: Danesi, Emmaría. Centro Nacional de Diagnóstico E Investigaciones En End; Argentina. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; ArgentinaFil: Scollo, Karerina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología "Dr. Mario Fatala Chaben”; ArgentinaFil: Lloveras, Susana. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; ArgentinaFil: Mir, Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de San Antonio de Areco.; ArgentinaFil: Álvarez, Marisa. Provincia de Salta. Ministerio de Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Yudis, Silvio. Gobierno de la Provincia de Salta. Ministerio de la Primera Infancia.; ArgentinaFil: Cayo Fernández, Miguel Angel. Dirección de Salud, Gobierno Regional Gran Chaco; BoliviaFil: Cipri, Diego. Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social; ParaguayFil: Krolewiecki, Alejandro Javier. Fundación Mundo Sano; Argentina. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Sede Regional Orán. Instituto de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pereiro, Ana Cristina. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Periago, Maria Victoria. Fundación Mundo Sano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Abril, Marcelo Claudio. Fundación Mundo Sano; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, Mariana. Asociación Para El Desarrollo Sanitario Regional; Argentin

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora