Arvelo, Wences
Hall, Aron J.
Henao, Olga
Lopez, Beatriz
Bernart, Chris
Moir, Juan C.
Reyes, Lissette
Montgomery, Susan P.
Morgan, Oliver
Estevez, Alejandra
Parsons, Michele B.
Lopez, Maria R.
Gomez, Gerry
Vinje, Jan
Gregoricus, Nicole
Parashar, Umesh
Mintz, Eric D.
McCracken, John
Bryan, Joe P.
Lindblade, Kim A.
Funding for this research was provided by:
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Supported in part by Cooperative Agreement UO1 GH000028-02)
Article History
Received: 6 May 2019
Accepted: 9 October 2019
First Online: 22 October 2019
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: Protocols for both the household surveys and the surveillance system received approval from the institutional review boards of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA; CDC IRB protocol #5150), and of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (Guatemala City, Guatemala). In addition, the protocol was reviewed and received approval from the Guatemalan Ministry of Public Health and Welfare (Guatemala City, Guatemala). The protocols included institutional review board approval to enroll minors < 17 years of age with consent from the parent or caregiver, and assent if the child was 7 years of age or older.For the household surveys, heads of household <u>></u> 18 years old were asked for written, informed consent for them and the members of the household to participate in the survey. Head of household was defined as the primary caregiver of most children in household or the oldest person > 18 years old in the household. All other members of the household <u>></u> 18 years old were also asked to provide verbal consent, and children aged 7 through 17 years provided verbal assent, as approved by institutional review boards. Verbal consent was approved as there was no risk for the household members to participate in a small subset of question from the survey, and heads of households had provided written informed consent.For the surveillance system, patients ≥18 years old and caregivers of children < 18 years old had to provide written, informed consent in order for them or their children to participate in the surveillance. For children aged 7 through 17 years, written assent was required in addition the caregivers written consent. For children younger than seven years we only obtained written consent to participate from their caregivers, as approved by the institutional review boards. Trained nurses informed participants about the study, including that their participation was voluntary and confidential. An informational sheet with a description of the study and contact information for the investigators was also provided. Signed consent forms were delivered to the investigators at the UVG daily.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests