Panama | Doctors are busy around an operating table, where is lying, intubated and anesthetized, a pig of about thirty kilos. He is serving as a guinea pig in a veterinary clinic at the University of Panama to test a new model of ventilator, intended for patients with the coronavirus in critical condition.
The animal is surrounded by machines that watch for its slightest vital signs, while it breathes with difficulty, to the monotonous rhythm of the respirator which keeps it alive.
Fourteenth on the list of guinea pigs, the animal baptized N-14 is participating unwillingly in a research program to develop new models of respirators in order to cope with a possible shortage of devices.
The first tests were carried out on mannequins, but experimentation on animals is essential before the use of the new ventilator on patients, explains to AFP Dr. José Manuel Trujillo, specialist in intensive care.
Panama (4 million inhabitants) holds the record for the number of coronavirus cases in Central America, with more than 104,000 confirmed cases, including 2,213 deaths.
Even if the daily number of deaths and positive cases has been declining in recent weeks, the authorities fear a rebound in the epidemic thanks to the gradual resumption of economic activity and the end of containment measures.
Panama wants “to be able to develop locally” around fifty respirators, indicates one of the coordinating researchers of the project, Rolando Gittens.
“One of the main problems we have faced with this pandemic is the shortage of devices and supplies globally,” he notes.
For their experiments, the researchers use healthy pigs weighing 25 to 40 kg, supplied by Panamanian breeders.
The animals are placed in an artificial coma and intubated. By then administering saline to N-14, the researchers cause a lung injury that mimics the breathing difficulties of critically ill coronavirus patients.
The animal is then connected alternately to a conventional respirator and to a local prototype, in order to be able to compare the performance of the two devices.
After approximately two and a half hours of testing, the animal will be euthanized.
“What we try first of all during the process is that (the guinea pigs) don’t feel any pain,” insists Juan Tapia, a veterinarian.
For the moment, the tests are carried out on seven prototypes of respirators, of which two are in the final stage of experimentation.