SARS-CoV-2 viral load analysis at low and high altitude: A case study from Ecuador

SARS-CoV-2 has spread throughout the world, including remote areas such as those located at high altitudes. There is a debate about the role of hypobaric hypoxia on viral transmission and COVID-19 incidence. A descriptive cross-sectional analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection and viral load among patients living at low (230 m) and high altitude (3800 m) in Ecuador was completed. Within these two communities, the total number of infected people at the time of the study was 108 cases (40.3%). The COVID-19 incidence proportion at low altitude was 64% while at high altitude was 30.3%. The mean viral load from those patients who tested positive was 3,499,184 copies/mL (SD = 23,931,479 copies/mL). At low altitude (Limoncocha), the average viral load was 140,223.8 copies/mL (SD = 990,840.9 copies/mL), while for the high altitude group (Oyacachi), the mean viral load was 6,394,789 copies/mL (SD = 32,493,469 copies/mL). We found no statistically significant differences when both results were compared (p = 0.056). We found no significant differences across people living at low or high altitude; however, men and younger populations had higher viral load than women older populations, respectivel

A comparative analysis of SARS-CoV-2 viral load across different altitudes

SARS-CoV-2 has spread throughout the world, including areas located at high or very high altitudes. There is a debate about the role of high altitude hypoxia on viral transmission, incidence, and COVID-19 related mortality. This is the first comparison of SARS-CoV-2 viral load across elevations ranging from 0 to 4300 m. To describe the SARS-CoV-2 viral load across samples coming from 62 cities located at low, moderate, high, and very high altitudes in Ecuador. An observational analysis of viral loads among nasopharyngeal swap samples coming from a cohort of 4929 patients with a RT-qPCR test positive for SARS-CoV-2. The relationship between high and low altitude only considering our sample of 4929 persons is equal in both cases and not significative (p-value 0.19). In the case of low altitude, adding the sex variable to the analysis, it was possible to find a significative difference between men and women (p-value < 0.05). Considering initially sex and then altitude, it was possible to find a significative difference between high and low altitude for men (p-value 0.05). There is not enough evidence to state that viral load is affected directly by altitude range but adding a new variable as sex in the analysis shows that the presence of new variables influences the relationship of altitude range and viral load. There is no evidence that viral loads (Ct and copies/ml) differ at low or high altitude. Using sex as a co-factor, we found that men have higher viral loads than women at low and moderate altitude locations, while living at high altitude, no differences were found. When Ct values were aggregated by low, moderate, and high viral load, we found no significant differences when sex was excluded from the analysis. We conclude that viral load is not directly affected by altitude, but COVID-19 incidence and mortality are rather affected by socio-demographic and idiosyncratic dynamics

Testing for SARS-CoV-2 at the core of voluntary collective isolation: Lessons from the indigenous populations living in the Amazon region in Ecuador

Voluntary collective isolation has been proposed to be the best response to COVID-19 for indigenous populations. While the potential value of voluntary collective isolation is appealing, the feasibility of this approach needs empirical evidence to support it as the best response to protect indigenous communities from COVID-19. This paper describes our experience during SARS-CoV-2 surveillance among Waorani communities in the Ecuadorian Amazonian region, from June to September 2020. We found that self-isolation strategies failed to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 from main urban areas to remote and isolated comunities

Massive testing in the Galapagos Islands and low positivity rate to control SARS-CoV-2 spread during the first semester of the COVID-19 pandemic: a story of success for Ecuador and South America

Introduction: During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America, countries like Ecuador, Peru and Colombia experienced chaotic scenarios with public health systems collapsing and lack of testing capacity to control the spread of the virus. In main cities like Guayaquil in Ecuador, dramatic situations such as corpses in the streets were internationally broadcasted. Methods: While the COVID-19 pandemic was devastating South America, SARS-CoV-2 transmission was successfully managed in the Galapagos Islands due to the implementation of a massive screening strategy including hospitalized and community-dwelling populations, and travel restrictions facilitated by its geographical location (972 km from the Ecuadorian continental territory). Floreana Island was one of the few locations in the world that remained COVID-19 free during 2020. Results: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the data related to SARS-CoV-2 massive testing campaigns from April to September 2020 in the Galapagos Islands, and found this territory to have the lowest positivity rate in South America (4.8-6.7%) and the highest testing ratio among Ecuadorian provinces (9.87% of the population, which is 2480 out of 25 124 inhabitants) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: This story of success was possible because of the interinstitutional collaboration between the regional government of Galapagos Islands (Consejo de Gobierno), the local authorities (Gobiernos Autonomos Descentralizados de Santa Cruz, San Cristobal and Isabela), the regional authorities from Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, the Agencia de Regulaci&amp;oacute;n y Control de la Bioseguridad y Cuarentena para Gal&amp;aacute;pagos and Universidad de Las Am&amp;eacute;ricas

Pflanzenlebensgemeinschaften in tropische Landnutzungssystemen: Diversitaetsmuster, Endemismus und Artenaustausch auf unterschiedlichen Landschaftsskalen

Habitatzerstörung und Fragmentierung von großflächigen Naturhabitaten sind die Hauptursachen für den weltweiten Biodiversitätsverlust. Artenschutz sollte nicht alleine darüber erfolgen, dass großräumig Flächen unter Naturschutz gestellt werden, z.B. in Form von einem Nationalpark. Um nicht auf unsere landwirtschaftlichen Produkte zu verzichten, muss Artenschutz auch Landnutzungsflächen einschließen. Es ist wenig darüber bekannt, welchen Einfluss Agrarökosysteme in Landschaften auf die Artenvielfalt haben.In dieser Arbeit wurde die Vegetation von fünf Habitattypen (Wald, Kaffeebrache, Kaffee-Agroforest, Weide, Reis) in zwei tropischen Landschaften mit sechs (erste Landschaft) und zwölf Flächenwiederholungen (zweite Landschaft) untersucht.Es konnte auf Landschaftsebene gezeigt werden, dass die Pflanzenvielfalt durch Heterogenität (Mosaik aller Habitattypen) in der Landschaft erhöht ist. Die Regeneration von Wald wurde durch die brachliegenden Kaffeeflächen gefördert. Weiter wurde nach Mechanismen, die Aufschluss über die Artenverteilung der krautigen Pflanzen in den unterschiedlich genutzten Habitattypen geben geforscht. Neben dem Vorkommen von spezifischen Pflanzeneigenschaften, konnte die Kombination zweier Theorien weiteren Aufschluss über die Koexistenz von Arten in unterschiedlich genutzten Habitattypen geben. Durch intra-spezifische Aggregation in den Pflanzenlebensgemeinschaften und durch den Konflikt Energie in eine schnelle Kolonisation des Habitates oder in Konkurrenzmechanismen zu investieren. Die Resultate zeigen, dass ein Mosaik aus verschiedenen Agrarökosystemen, Brachflächen und Wald zu einer hohen Pflanzendiversität in tropischen Landschaften führt.Fragmentation and destruction of once continuous natural vegetation are major threats to biological diversity. Since preservation of biodiversity can not only be realized through the establishment of protected areas, conservation efforts should also focus on human-intervened landscapes with a potentially high biodiversity value. In a highly replicated study of two tropical landscapes, using five land-use types (forest, abandoned coffee, coffee agroforestry, pasture, and rice) with six (in one landscape) and 12 replicates (the other landscape) per land-use type, the effect of management practices on plant diversity was evaluated.The results show that plant diversity was mainly determined by the heterogeneity at large spatial scales, and forest recovery was stimulated by the presence of agroforestry systems. A further study and analyses should reveal the mechanisms responsible for the high diversity in heterogenous landscapes. A study of species distribution patterns revealed that the response of herbaceous plant communities to land-use activities were mainly influenced by specific traits that determine their range sizes. Further, the combination of theories on intraspecific aggregation and the trade-off between colonization and competition to explain species coexistences in the different land-use types is discussed.In conclusion, the results suggest that agroecosystems and other human-intervened habitat types should not be disregarded in conservation planning to preserve regional plant diversity in tropical areas

Reproductive isolation of sympatric forms of the understorey palm Geonoma macrostachys in western Amazonia

The evolution of a mechanism for attaining reproductive isolation between two diverging populations is a key step in the speciation process. We studied phenotypic variation, genetic differentiation, spatial distribution and reproductive ecology in two sympatric forms of the understorey palm Geonoma macrostachys in lowland tropical rainforest in Amazonian Ecuador. The two forms were morphologically and genetically distinct and differed in habitat preference, with one form being confined to moist flood plain habitats and the other occurring in terra firme and flood plain. Pollen transfer between the two forms was limited, but not totally prevented, by differences in flowering time, with flowers of the small form opening 2–3 h earlier than those of the large form. Differences in floral scent probably reduce the number of shared pollinators. A crossing experiment showed that pistillate flowers of either form produced fruit with pollen from the other form. We conclude that flowering biology may be a key factor in causing reproductive isolation between these closely related sympatric taxa