SARS-CoV-2 in the Amazon region: A harbinger of doom for Amerindians

by Juan David Ramírez, Emilia Mia Sordillo, Eduardo Gotuzzo, Carol Zavaleta, Daniel Caplivski, Juan Carlos Navarro, James Lee Crainey, Sergio Luiz Bessa Luz, Lourdes A. Delgado Noguera, Roxane Schaub, Cyril Rousseau, Giovanny Herrera, Maria A Oliveira-Miranda, Maria Teresa Quispe-Vargas, Peter J. Hotez, Alberto Paniz Mondolfi

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.