PAHO Boosting Virus Surveillance

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is looking to implement a new PCR-based multiplex protocol that allows member countries to simultaneously detect the coronavirus (COVID-19) and influenza infections from the same sample.

Director, Dr. Carissa Etienne, said that the undertaking, being done in tandem with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is intended to boost regional states’ surveillance capabilities.

“As countries work to become more self-sufficient in their pandemic response, this new, integrated testing strategy will help sustain their surveillance efforts,” she said.

She was speaking during PAHO’s COVID-19 digital media briefing on Wednesday (October 20).

Dr. Etienne said surveillance and early warning mechanisms, which are integral components of disease control, will remain pivotal in identifying new risks and managing and responding to the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said consequent on data showing how local COVID-19 hotspots are increasingly driving national trends, it is imperative that health authorities have a “clear picture” of developments at the local level and quickly communicate the risks and requisite preventative measures to reduce transmission.

“By empowering institutions like laboratories, public health schools, and universities to diagnose new infections locally as part of the national surveillance efforts, local municipalities can detect risks more quickly and remain on the pulse of emerging trends,” the Director emphasised.

Dr. Etienne said enhancing homegrown detection capacities “also means ensuring that there are enough local testing sites and that clinicians know where, when and which COVID tests are worth sending for epidemiological surveillance”.

“To act smarter, countries should also look for ways to build on existing surveillance networks. By integrating COVID-19 with surveillance activities for other respiratory viruses, like influenza, countries can monitor diseases more efficiently and sustainably,” she said.

Noting that surveillance has always been the “eyes and ears” guiding the region’s COVID-19 response, since the first case was detected, Dr. Etienne said countries must “act smarter and act together” to collectively improve this methodology.

Meanwhile, the Director advised that 41 per cent of people across Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

She said that while this is “good news” the coverage is not even, as it is higher in some countries and much lower in others.

Dr. Etienne advised that another 4.6 million vaccine doses are slated to be deployed to the region through the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility and should arrive by the end of this week “so more people can be protected”.