Análise de aspectos epidemiológicos de variantes de SARS-CoV-2 identificadas por sequenciamento genético em municípios da Região Oeste do Pará

Abstract

COVID-19 had a worldwide impact and caused high rates of morbidity and mortality. The disease has SARS-CoV-2 as its etiological agent and started in Wuhan, China on December 31, 2019. Because it is an RNA virus, it has higher mutation rates, because during viral replication the occurrence of errors is greater, which contributes to the evolution of variants. Thus, the study of the epidemiology of the disease is essential for knowledge and monitoring of variants, forms of transmission and control of dissemination. This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological aspects of SARS-CoV-2 variants identified by genetic sequencing in samples from municipalities located in the western region of the state of Pará. The research was carried out using information obtained from samples collected between October 2021 and June 2022 and registered in the Ministry of Health's Laboratory Environment Manager (GAL) system. During this period, 3097 positive cases of COVID-19 were registered, with 114 samples sequenced for variant identification. According to the analysis, the results showed that the largest number of samples corresponded to the city of Santarém, with the months of October, November and December 2021 having the highest incidence of the Delta variant, while the largest number of cases of the Ômicron variant was registered from January 2022. Frequent symptoms in patients infected with the Delta variant were fever (65.7%), headache (57.8%), cough (57%) and sore throat (44.7%). while patients infected by the Ômicron variant had cough (6.1%) and fever (4.3%) as the most common symptoms. The most frequent comorbidities were chronic heart disease and diabetes in patients over 60 years of age. The results obtained show the importance of genomic surveillance for a better understanding of COVID-19 cases, especially in regions far from capitals and large urban centers, in addition to providing a better understanding of the spread of the disease in relation to the occurrence of virus variants and contributing to define public health strategies.