The Ministry of Public Health announces that the country is ready to begin genetic sequencing. This is the capacity to determine the virus variants, bacteria and pathogens circulating in the country. Public Health Minister Daniel Rivera made the announcement of the new capacity on Monday, 14 February 2022 when he was accompanied by the representative of the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization WHO/PAHO in the country, Olivier Ronveaux.
Dr. Rivera said the sequencing capacity is a historic milestone for public health in the country. While the country had installed the equipment, local staff had to be trained. The PAHO, in collaboration with the Gorgas Institute of Health Studies (regional reference for the PAHO Genomic Surveillance Network), developed the International Training Course on “Sequencing and Bioinformatics Analysis of Influenza and SARS-Cov-2, at the Dr. Defilló National Public Health Laboratory, where the sequencing machines are installed. The training course took place 7-11 February 2022. Health specialists from Guatemala came to participate in the training course here.
Doctors Daniel Rivera and Olivier Ronveaux concurred in their presentations that the local sequencing capacity is a great advance in medical technology for investigating epidemic outbreaks in the country. The physicians highlighted that genomic sequencing makes it possible to identify with greater certainty the different variants of Covid-19 and the different viruses, bacteria and circulating pathogens, and to track the distribution of viruses in time and space. It means a great advance towards the modernization of the genomic surveillance of pathogens at the Dr. Defilló National Public Health Laboratory.
Meanwhile, Dr. Eladio Perez, Vice Minister of Collective Health, highlighted the importance of achieving genomic surveillance as part of the country’s evolution in terms of technology applied to scientific procedures. He explained: “This is the result of much sacrifice. With the immediate capacity we were able to observe the Delta and Omicron variants, with this surveillance we will reach a milestone since thanks to this process we can reduce risks with preparedness, surveillance, response and early recovery in case of any threat to human health, including outbreaks or disasters caused by natural phenomena, biological, chemical or radiological agents, human activities, conflicts or any other threat.”
The director of the National Laboratory, Yvonne Imbert, said during the event: “It is expected to replicate this method and technology in other respiratory viruses and diseases such as: HIV, arbovirosis, malaria, tuberculosis, so that we can continue to contribute to meet the needs of the population aligned to the national strategy of simplification, optimization and innovation.”
The Technical Coordinator of the National Laboratory, Isaac Miguel, said results can now be available every week on the variants circulating in the country, according to the samples received during the day, taking 10% of Covid-19 positive PCRs.
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Presidency
15 February 2022