Mexican technology for detection of Covid-19 will be used in Mérida as soon as 2022

Merida, Yucatán, (December 02, 2021).- Mexican specialists designed, developed, and verified the effectiveness of various technologies for detection, analysis, and tracking for patients with covid-19, which will be made available to the population, in various cities of the country from 2022, reported the Secretary of Planning from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav), Martha Espinosa Cantellano.

After 12 months of work between researchers and students from Cinvestav, the second phase of the project began on November 29, beginning at the Regional Hospital of High Specialty of Ixtapaluca, State of Mexico.

It is one of the largest health research projects carried out by Cinvestav, said Espinosa Cantellano, adding that it will work in other cities, such as Mérida.

The megaproject involves 15 tenured researchers from four units (Irapuato, Zacatenco, Monterrey, and Advanced Genomics), supported by the Mexico-Uruguay Joint Cooperation Fund, which is coordinated by the Mexican agencies for International Development Cooperation (Amexcid ) and Uruguayan International Cooperation.

According to the person in charge of the project, the covid-19 pandemic has represented a challenge in many areas, so the development and planning of this project were no exception.

Therefore, “it will allow us to join efforts with the Mexican Consortium for Genomic Surveillance to report the variants that circulate specifically in the environment of the hospitals that are going to participate,” she mentioned.

Espinosa Cantellano added that thanks to this project, rapid diagnostic tests were generated with RT-LAMP and RT-RPA technology, as well as serological analyzes to accurately detect the concentration of immunoglobulins G (IgG) and M (IgM), antibodies present. in infectious processes.

She pointed out that the conclusion of this project, which also involves mobility analysis of positive cases, is scheduled for the second quarter of 2022, although it is possible to have an extension of it.

She commented that the results will help to have a more complete picture of the pandemic in the country and will offer a more accurate diagnosis when issuing recommendations to the health authorities.