COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) in Patients Treated in the Unified Health System (SUS) with Flu and Respiratory Symptoms from Three Brazilian Municipalities in the Border Region

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and carry out epidemiology using sociodemographic data from patients with symptoms suggestive of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (SARS-CoV-2) in 3 bordering Brazilian municipalities. Methods: An epidemiological survey of positive cases of COVID-19 through reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was carried out in 1874 patients, seen in the Unified Health System (SUS), ages between 0 and 99 years, who had symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, from the cities of Assis Chateaubriand, Tupãssi, and Formosa do Oeste. Results: It was possible to observe that of the 1874 patients seen in the public health network of the 3 municipalities, 354 were diagnosed as positive. The predominance of cases was in female patients (51.97%) and in patients who lived in urban areas (93.50%), and the predominant age group was 20-29 years (19.78%). Conclusion: The result of this study demonstrated the epidemiological profile of patients with respiratory and flu-like symptoms, positive for COVID-19, in 3 municipalities bordering Paraguay and Argentina. It was evident that the age group has its specificities regarding the susceptibility of the infection. Although the borders are closed, there was probably a spread of the virus in this region, due to the diversion, which showed an increase during the pandemic period.