Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northwestern Argentina

Studies about the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 lineages in different backgrounds such as naive populations are still scarce, especially from South America. This work aimed to study the introduction and diversification pattern of SARS-CoV-2 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Northwestern Argentina (NWA) region and to analyze the evolutionary dynamics of the main lineages found. In this study, we analyzed a total of 260 SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequences from Argentina, belonging to the Provinces of Jujuy, Salta, and Tucumán, from March 31st, 2020, to May 22nd, 2021, which covered the full first wave and the early second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina. In the first wave, eight lineages were identified: B.1.499 (76.9%), followed by N.5 (10.2%), B.1.1.274 (3.7%), B.1.1.348 (3.7%), B.1 (2.8%), B.1.600 (0.9%), B.1.1.33 (0.9%) and N.3 (0.9%). During the early second wave, the first-wave lineages were displaced by the introduction of variants of concern (VOC) (Alpha, Gamma), or variants of interest (VOI) (Lambda, Zeta, Epsilon) and other lineages with more limited distribution. Phylodynamic analyses of the B.1.499 and N.5, the two most prevalent lineages in the NWA, revealed that the rate of evolution of lineage N.5 (7.9 × 10−4 substitutions per site per year, s/s/y) was a ∼40% faster than that of lineage B.1.499 (5.6 × 10−4 s/s/y), although both are in the same order of magnitude than other non-VOC lineages. No mutations associated with a biological characteristic of importance were observed as signatures markers of the phylogenetic groups established in Northwestern Argentina, however, single sequences in non-VOC lineages did present mutations of biological importance or associated with VOCs as sporadic events, showing that many of these mutations could emerge from circulation in the general population. This study contributed to the knowledge about the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in a pre-vaccination and without post-exposure immunization period.Instituto de Patología VegetalFil: Zambrana Montaño, Romina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Investigaciones en Bacteriología y Virología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Zambrana Montaño, Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Culasso, Andrés Carlos Alberto. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Investigaciones en Bacteriología y Virología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Culasso, Andrés Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, Franco Daniel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Fernandez, Franco Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Fitopatología y Modelización Agrícola (UFyMA); ArgentinaFil: Marquez, Nathalie. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Marquez, Nathalie. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Fitopatología y Modelización Agrícola (UFyMA); ArgentinaFil: Debat, Humberto Julio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Debat, Humberto Julio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Fitopatología y Modelización Agrícola (UFyMA); ArgentinaFil: Salmerón, Mariana. Laboratorio de Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Zamora, Ana María. Laboratorio de Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Ruíz de Huidobro, Gustavo. Laboratorio de Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Costas, Dardo. Laboratorio de Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Alabarse, Graciela. Laboratorio de Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Charre, Miguel Alejandro. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública, San Salvador de Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Fridman, Ariel David. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública. San Salvador de Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Mamani, Claudia. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública. San Salvador de Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Vaca, Fabiana. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública. San Salvador de Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Maza Diaz, Claudia. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública. San Salvador de Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Raskovsky, Viviana. Hospital Señor del Milagro. Laboratorio de Virus Respiratorios y Neurovirosis; ArgentinaFil: Lavaque, Esteban. Hospital Señor del Milagro. Laboratorio de Virus Respiratorios y Neurovirosis; ArgentinaFil: Lesser, Veronica. Hospital Señor del Milagro. Laboratorio de Virus Respiratorios y Neurovirosis; ArgentinaFil: Cajal, Pamela. Hospital Señor del Milagro. Laboratorio de Virus Respiratorios y Neurovirosis; ArgentinaFil: Agüero, Fernanda. Hospital Señor del Milagro. Laboratorio de Virus Respiratorios y Neurovirosis; ArgentinaFil: Calvente, Cintia. Hospital Señor del Milagro. Laboratorio de Virus Respiratorios y Neurovirosis; ArgentinaFil: Torres, Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Investigaciones en Bacteriología y Virología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Torres, Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Viegas, Mariana. Hospital de Niños Dr. Ricardo Gutiérrez. Laboratorio de Virología; Argentin

Strengthening public health policies for childhood cancer: Peru’s achievements through the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer

Objective. To report the progress in Peru, since June 2019, in the implementation of the World Health Organization Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer using the CureAll framework, which can be replicated in low- and middle-income countries. Methods. A mixed method was used of participatory and documentary evaluation. The participatory evaluation included stakeholders from various government institutions, nonprofit organizations, and international partners. The documentary aspect consisted of a review of data on the regulatory environment, national projects, and interventions implemented. The Ministry of Health engaged more than 150 participants to form working committees, which have developed policy and regulatory documents to strengthen care services. Results. Achievements include a decrease in the national treatment abandonment rate from 18.6% to 8.5%, the approval of the Childhood Cancer Law, improvements in the management of patients with febrile neutropenia, and a reduction in rates of events of clinical deterioration and mortality of hospitalized patients. The Cure All implementation framework allows local teams to implement specific strategies and monitor early outcomes in pediatric oncology. Conclusions. The results obtained reflect the teamwork, the leadership of the authorities, the technical support of professionals, and the support of involved organizations. Further actions will be needed to guarantee sustainability, and monitoring tools are needed to assure success in the planned activities

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data