Inspi will double its ability to identify SARS-CoV-2 variants with the purchase of two kits

The National Institute for Public Health Research (Inspi) bought, on the 17th of this month, two modern equipment (sequencers) for the “more specific” identification of the variants of SARS-CoV-2, a virus that arrived in Ecuador almost two years ago. years, in February 2020.

At the national level, seven of the eight variants that are registered in the world circulate: alpha (United Kingdom), delta (India), gamma (Brazil), iota (United States), lambda (Peru), mu (Colombia) and ómicron ( South Africa). The latter was presented in the middle of this month with the arrival of a traveler and, as of December 22, 22 were already reported infected. Total, the seven variants add up to more than 3,100 confirmed cases; the majority of infections (1,134) are from delta, according to figures from the Ministry of Health (MSP).

Most of these confirmed infections, more than 2,000, have been identified with two teams from Inspi: one acquired in 2020 and another in May 2021, said Leandro Patiño, general coordinator of Inspi. The rest of the analyzes, he added, were done in university laboratories.

Inspi carries out these studies of the genetic material of the virus in the two locations in Guayaquil, so – assured Patiño – coverage needs to be expanded to reduce any affectation that the sample could suffer in the transfer from other provinces to Guayaquil. “The loss of temperatures could cause some sample to be affected, but we try to minimize this happening,” he said.

Loss of temperatures could cause some sample to be affected, but we try to minimize this happening.

Leandro Patiño, general coordinator of Inspi

One of the devices, purchased from Biomol Ecuador SA for $ 148,670, will be delivered to the Inspiration research center in Quito; while the second (capillary sequencer), acquired from the supplier Gustavo Venegas for $ 136,950, will remain in Guayaquil.

Nowadays, The two teams that Inspi has do the genomic analysis of about 96 samples per week, although their capacity is for about 500. And with the new two teams, the capacity will double, explained the official., who stressed that this figure could increase, because one of the new devices (capillary sequencer) can identify variants of the virus gene – which has 30,000 nucleotides – or a fragment of the gene in less time.

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“The responses could be reduced to 48 hours and, in some cases, to 24 hours,” he said. The current time of this study can take, on average, three to five days. Furthermore, these devices will not only be used for the identification of variants of the SARS-CoV-2 will also be used – assured the Inspi coordinator – to analyze other infectious agents, such as HIV and its resistance to drugs, bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, among others.

The origin of the variants occurs, explained the virologist Aracely Álava, for multiple causes. Among them, he mentioned: due to the natural and frequent mutation of viruses, because the virus replicates in people who are not vaccinated and in those who have weakened their immune systems due to diseases. “This means that it cannot be efficiently defended (against the virus) and that the virus learns to vary,” he said.

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For Patiño, Inspiration coordinator, COVID-19 “came to stay and we are going to have to live with it.” Therefore, he assured that surveillance must be permanent in this virus, which has infected 538,218 people in the country. Another 33,624 have died, according to figures from the Ministry of Health (MSP), cut off on December 21.

Vaccination continues to be the main global strategy to face this epidemic. In the case of Ecuador, it is the first country in the region that declared on December 22 the obligation to inoculate against COVID-19 due to the increase in infections and the circulation of new variants. At the moment, according to official figures, 70% (12.4 million) of the population has been immunized with the two full doses. (I)

Details

Sample processing

The Ministry of Health sends the samples (swabs) to Inspi for laboratory analysis (PCR) and, according to epidemiological criteria, a genome study is requested. Reagents are placed on the sample to extract the genetic material from the virus, and then it is analyzed on the sequencer kit.

Reagents

On December 17, Inspi acquired reagents to process 6,144 samples to identify variants of SARS-CoV-2 for $ 188,389. According to the process, awarded to the company Biomol Ecuador, the delivery time for these supplies is 20 days.