Abstract
As the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic continues to expand, healthcare resources globally have been spread thin. Now, the disease is rapidly spreading across South America, with deadly consequences in areas with already weakened public health systems. The Amazon region is particularly susceptible to the widespread devastation from Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) because of its immunologically fragile native Amerindian inhabitants and epidemiologic vulnerabilities. Herein, we discuss the current situation and potential impact of COVID-19 in the Amazon region and how further spread of the epidemic wave could prove devastating for many Amerindian people living in the Amazon rainforest.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Betacoronavirus
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COVID-19
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Coronavirus Infections / ethnology*
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Coronavirus Infections / mortality
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Humans
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Indians, South American*
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Pandemics
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Pneumonia, Viral / ethnology*
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Pneumonia, Viral / mortality
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Rainforest
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SARS-CoV-2
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South America / epidemiology
Grants and funding
Funding was provided by the University of Glasgow, Scottish Funding Council and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and GCRF Research Network EP/T003782/1. CZ is funded by a Welcome Trust International Training Fellowship. MAOM and MTQV (Wataniba) are funded by Swift Foundation and The Full Circle Foundation, Special Grants to support Amazon Indigenous Peoples on the context of the COVID-19 emergency. JCN is funded by Grant P011617_2 DII-UISEK, Ecoepidemiology in silico of Emerging Diseases. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.