{"id":933297,"date":"2026-07-14T02:23:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/933297\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T02:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:23:21","slug":"this-microbiologist-endured-a-four-year-court-battle-over-covid-19-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/933297\/","title":{"rendered":"This microbiologist endured a four-year court battle over COVID-19 tests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping across the world in February 2020, Linda Guam\u00e1n, a microbiologist at the University UTE in Quito, was ready to serve her country. Ecuador announced its first case on 29 February, and the disease spread quickly. Guayaquil, the nation\u2019s largest city, was hit particularly hard. Hospitals, funeral homes and mortuaries were overwhelmed, with bodies reportedly being abandoned in the streets. Guam\u00e1n, whose research focused on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, knew that the country would not have enough testing capacity \u2014 and she wanted to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was clear to me that I should use all the knowledge that I had gained. I joke about this, but I was kind of happy in the sense that this is what I\u2019d been reading about for my whole career. This is what I\u2019d trained for,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

However, within months, that excitement turned to anguish as she became embroiled in a political controversy over the purchase of COVID-19 tests. In an ordeal that lasted several years, she would be arrested, face a trial with the possibility of a prison sentence of up to 13 years and be forced to wear an ankle tag to monitor her movements.<\/p>\n

Guam\u00e1n recounts how she received a call in April 2020 from Ximena Abarca, a public-health scientist and former vice-minister of health, inviting her to work on Quito\u2019s COVID-19 testing strategy. The city had purchased around 100,000 rapid point-of-care tests from a company overseas, and even before Guam\u00e1n accepted Abarca\u2019s offer, there were stories in the press about the tests being overpriced. \u201cMy mum said, \u2018You\u2019re going to get into trouble if you take this job.\u2019 But to me it seemed pretty clear. I didn\u2019t participate in the purchase of the tests \u2014 I\u2019m just going to work as hard as I can,\u201d Guam\u00e1n recalls.<\/p>\n

In January 2021, the police contacted her. And in March, she was accused of misappropriating public funds, alongside Abarca, Jorge Yunda \u2014 a physician, and Quito\u2019s mayor at the time \u2014 and 11 others, mainly scientists and health workers. At first, Guam\u00e1n did not realize the gravity of the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought, this is absurd. It makes no sense and it\u2019s all going to end really soon,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The investigation focused on why the Municipality of Quito chose to use loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) tests rather than the more widespread polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. LAMP tests are similar to PCR tests but are faster and simpler to use, because they don\u2019t require repeated cycles of heating and cooling. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist and immunologist who was based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, at the time and gave evidence through a video link at the trial, tells Nature he felt it was his duty as a scientist to explain how testing for the virus worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time, there was tremendous confusion about the science of testing,\u201d he says. \u201cLinda was not confused,\u201d he adds. She saw LAMP as \u201ca very powerful and inexpensive approach to COVID-19 testing\u201d that her country could use at a time when PCR reagents were in short supply across the globe. \u201cLAMP was an alternative to PCR that was exceptionally high quality, and available,\u201d Mina says.<\/p>\n

Testing alternatives<\/p>\n

Mina, who went on to help lead the US government\u2019s Home Test to Treat Program, points to an erroneous view at the time that PCR was the only test that could be relied on. He says that LAMP, and then antigen tests, each had their own applications in different circumstances. \u201cIn some ways, PCR turned out to be one of the most limited technologies for the needs of the pandemic,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt was too sensitive to reliably use as an indicator of whether someone was infectious and required isolation. It was also technically challenging for many labs, and reagents were expensive and scarce. LAMP was a great alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guam\u00e1n maintains that prosecutors built a case against her and her co-defendants using a report she had commissioned, which was published as a paper1<\/a> in January 2021. It showed that the LAMP tests had a sensitivity of 61.9%, and prosecutors reasoned that they were therefore substandard (a point eventually rejected by the court, she says).<\/p>\n

Prosecutors alleged that Guam\u00e1n and her fellow defendants had misused public funds. Ecuador has long been characterized by political instability, which Guam\u00e1n suddenly found herself caught up in. Yunda described the allegations at the time as \u201cpolitical persecution\u201d.<\/p>\n

The first court case, which took place in September 2021, was paused after the defence lawyers argued that one of the judges was biased.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Working Scientist career profiles<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

During this hiatus, restrictions were placed on the defendants\u2019 movements: they had to report to a police station twice a week, could not buy or sell any property and had to wear an ankle tag.<\/p>\n

For Guam\u00e1n, this was one of the most humiliating aspects of the ordeal. She says police would contact her through the tag and if they rang she would have to lift up her ankle to speak into it. It needed to be charged frequently, and she would have to sit down while it was plugged into the wall. She became pregnant during this period, and had to apply to the court to have the tag removed while she gave birth in 2023. Within days of her son being born, police came to refit it.<\/p>\n

Guam\u00e1n\u2019s university organized a public statement in her and Abarca\u2019s defence, which was signed by 60 academics from across Ecuador. In it, they expressed \u201csolidarity and support\u201d for Guam\u00e1n as a fellow scientist and said that they were concerned by an \u201cattempt to implicate\u201d her in a \u201cpossible act of embezzlement\u201d. They added: \u201cWe reject this emphatically, given her impeccable career, which has earned her recognition both within and outside the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November 2021, the Committee of Concerned Scientists<\/a>, an international non-profit organization based in New York City, wrote to Ecuador\u2019s president, Guillermo Lasso. The letter acknowledged that doubts had been raised about the LAMP tests, but voiced concerns \u201cthat scientific research has been used to settle a political score with the former administration of Quito that authorized the testing\u201d. The political climate in Ecuador is febrile.<\/p>\n

The letter said of Guam\u00e1n\u2019s ordeal: \u201cSuch weaponization of science has no place in health services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public recognition<\/p>\n

In 2023, Guam\u00e1n was shortlisted for the John Maddox Prize, an award for individuals who stand up for science and evidence, but she could not travel to London for the award ceremony. The citation praised \u201cher bravery in enduring political intimidation for her conduct as a scientist in public office\u201d and said she had been \u201ccaught up in a backlash against the city mayor\u201d. During her ordeal, Guam\u00e1n says, she was ostracized by some colleagues and stopped being invited to conferences. Others supported her in private but were too fearful to speak out publicly.<\/p>\n

While waiting for the trial to resume, she carried on working and was made director of the Centre of Biomedical Research (CENBIO) at UTE. Her work now focuses on biodiscovery, looking both in the laboratory and in the jungles of Ecuador for molecules that have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory or anti-microbial properties. She refused the job offer at first, because she wanted to concentrate on the looming legal proceedings, but her boss said it would give her something else to think about. The increased salary was also helpful \u2014 Guam\u00e1n was paying legal fees and had hired a public-relations firm to address the intense media interest in the case.<\/p>\n

The trial began again in February 2025 and lasted for 30 days. Guam\u00e1n, who had been studying law in preparation, says she approached the court case as if she were teaching the \u201cmost important class of her life\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had so many resources from my lab. I had whiteboard pens, I had ping-pong balls to show what a viral load is. I had a teddy bear and I took out the stuffing to show what DNA is. I had a PCR test and I was showing the jury how the PCR test worked.\u201d She says that as she was describing the differences between the tests, at one point the judge asked if she had explained all of this to the prosecutors. When she replied that she had, \u201che said, \u2018why are you here?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My career switch from psychologist to open-science advocate<\/p>\n

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