Aim: EPI-COVID-19, a research project in epidemiology to study intra-household transmission around cases of Covid-19 confirmed in French Guiana.
The EPI-COVID study, covering 250 households (150 in French Guiana, 50 in Guadeloupe and 50 in New Caledonia), should make it possible to investigate the secondary infection rate, the speed of spread of the virus, the proportion of asymptomatic cases, the incubation period, the contagiousness period and the immune response associated with SARS-CoV-2. These results will be compared with those of less warm and less humid territories than French Guiana.
EPI-COVID focuses on 250 confirmed cases and their household contacts, expecting a total of 600 subjects. The study provides for clinical, virological and serological monitoring of the participants, using blood and nasopharyngeal samples taken from the families' homes. Since March 23, about 80 people have been included in the study in French Guiana.