Why has the coronavirus not reached Latin America?

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
• Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)

How do you get the coronavirus? 1:54

(CNN Spanish) - In Latin America there have been no cases of coronavirus so far, but experts do not take the battle for now, because the risk, they say, is latent.

Worldwide in less than two months, more than 1,700 deaths and more than 71,000 cases have been registered, most of them in mainland China.

Outside of China, at least 885 cases have been recorded in 28 countries or regions and 5 deaths in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, France and Taiwan related to the coronavirus, which was named by the World Health Organization as COVID-19 .

What happens with Latin America and the Caribbean?

According to Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the Health Emergencies Program of the World Health Organization, the coronavirus COVID-19, has had an “efficient community transmission outside of China,” and most of those cases have “a link Direct ”with China.

"Of that transmission that occurred in countries outside of China, most of that transmission can be tracked through existing transmission chains," Ryan said, adding that the level of risk of spreading this virus is "high in all the world".

And that lack of direct contact with China is for Dr. Elmer Huerta, public health expert and collaborator of CNN in Spanish, the reason why so far no cases of coronavirus have been discovered in the region.

"Latin America is obviously a very large region and has dozens of airports, but those airports have no direct communication with flights from China," Huerta said, noting that travelers going to Latin America are mostly contained by the airports of The United States, a country that had registered at least 467 people registered under coronavirus research in 42 states until February 17. Of these 15 have tested positive, 392 negative and another 60 patients are still pending.

But the fact that a case has not yet been detected in Latin America does not mean that it should be ruled out.

“Something we have learned from this is that the vast majority of cases are either mild or asymptomatic. That is, the person may be infected and show no signs of illness or show it very slightly, ”Huerta added.

Although some Latin American citizens have tested positive for coronaviruses, their cases have been registered abroad, specifically on cruises that are under quarantine. On this, Huerta rules out that these people are carriers and transmitters of the virus once they return to their countries. According to the expert, those who have been diagnosed with coronavirus in another country and who return to their country already recovered, "will not be able to infect other people."

“The period of contagion of this type of viral, respiratory diseases, whether the coronavirus, MERS, SARS or influenza, have a period of contagion that begins when symptoms do not yet occur, until the first four or five days of the symptoms. Once this has happened, the person no longer becomes contagious, ”Huerta added.

In fact, the spread of the coronavirus from person to person often occurs when someone comes into contact with the secretions of an infected person, such as cough drops.

Depending on how virulent the virus is, a cough, a sneeze or a handshake can cause exposure. The virus can also be transmitted by touching something that an infected person has touched and then touching their mouth, nose or eyes. Caregivers can sometimes be exposed when handling a patient's waste, according to the CDC.

A latent risk

Since the end of January, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) urged the countries of the region to “be prepared to detect, isolate and care for patients infected with the new coronavirus early, given the possibility of receiving travelers from countries where there is virus transmission ”.

For the Brazilian doctor Jarbas Barbosa, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, due to the high rate of international travelers worldwide, it is "likely" that the coronavirus will reach the region.

"With all the exchange of people in the world today, it is very likely that people who left regions where there is the transmission that today is only in China, can reach Latin America or the Caribbean," Barbosa said on the site PAHO website.

"We must be alert," Barbosa added. "In today's world it is very likely that a person with that virus can reach any of our countries."

The risk is latent because this coronavirus can spread through people who have no symptoms. According to Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, an infected person who shows no symptoms could still transmit the virus to another person.

"However, what we don't know is how many of the asymptomatic cases are driving the transmission," Redfield told CNN.

However, there is no reason to be alarmed, said Marcos Espinal, director of contagious diseases at PAHO.

"The message is not to create panic, even if a case comes to a country, you don't have to despair," said Espinal, as WHO and PAHO are working with the Ministries of Health of all countries in the region that are experts in the field. They are attending countries.

Latin America is preparing

According to Dr. Barbosa, the region of the Americas is “better prepared than in the past”, but that prevention measures cannot be ruled out in each country, and can guide travelers and public and private health services so that they know how to act if there is a suspicion of a case of coronavirus.

"For that it is necessary that the country be prepared with its surveillance system, very open to immediately detect and adopt measures to prevent the spread of the virus to other people," added Barbosa, deputy director of PAHO for the Americas.

According to Espinal, as long as cases continue to increase in China and other countries are being diagnosed, there is a risk that the virus will reach Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Hopefully, you don't have to panic," Espinal said. "If a case comes, [we have to] isolate it, investigate the contacts and with that the chain of transmission of that virus in certain countries is cut."

The Caribbean countries are also alert to the "importation" of the virus, since being such an important tourist destination, it is possible for travelers carrying the virus to reach the Caribbean islands.

"As one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, the Caribbean must prepare to quickly detect and respond to cases imported from COVID-19," said Yitades Gebre, PAHO / WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean countries, in a statement last week.

"Providing the countries with the reagents and knowledge needed to make an early diagnosis is key to responding to an outbreak and protecting our populations," Gebre added.

WHO has already conducted training with several countries in the region in order to increase prevention efforts to detect coronavirus through laboratory tests. Workshop participants trained in the main tests and protocols to detect and diagnose COVID-19 disease using molecular technology, according to a statement from PAHO.

In the Caribbean, WHO training has been in Suriname, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, Belize, Dominica and PAHO experts are expected to travel to Bahamas and Guyana this week.

Training has also been conducted to guide countries on the coronavirus in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, as well as in the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

In addition, trainings have also been given in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay and Venezuela.

coronavirus