Desenlace fatal por loxoscelismo cutáneo visceral / Severe loxoscelism with lethal outcome. Report of one case

Loxoscelism, is caused by the bite of Loxosceles laeta spiders. It has two clinical forms: cutaneous loxoscelism (CL) and viscerocutaneous loxoscelism (VCL). VCL is characterized by hematuria, hemoglobinuria, jaundice, fever and sensorial involvement. In severes cases there is massive hemolysis and renal failure, with high letality. We report a 71 year-old man, brought to the hospital five days after suffering a spider bite. The patient was admitted with a severe kidney failure, hemolysis, metabolic acidosis and clotting disorder. The patient was managed with adrenal steroids and dialisys but died five weeks after hospital admission. This particualr patient consulted late and had multiple factors of poor prognosis.

Fosforilación en células eucarióticas: papel de fosfatasas y quinasas en la biología, patogenia y control de protozoosis tisulares y sanguíneas / Phosphorylation in eukaryotic cells: role of phosphatases and kinases in biology, pathogenesis and control of intracellular and bloodstream protozoa

Cells respond to environmental or cellular changes, rapidly switching protein activities from one state to another. In eukaryotes, a way to achieve these changes is through protein phosphorylation cycles, involving independent protein kinase and protein phosphatase activities. Current evidences show that phosphatases and kinases are also involved in the molecular basis of immune response and in diseases such as diabetes obesity and Alzheimer. In protozoan parasites like Trypanosoma and Leishmania, several kinases and phosphatases have been identified, many of them have been cloned but in several cases their biological role remains undetermined. In this review, the state-of-the art is summarized and the role of phosphatases and kinases in biological phenomena such as remodeling, invasion and pathogenic capacity of protozoan parasites is described. The real chance to use these components of signal transduction pathways as target for chemotherapeutic intervention is also discussed

Diphyllobothriosis humana por infección por Diphyllobotrhium pacificum en un niño de 3 años en Antofagasta, Chile / Human diphyllobothriosis by diphyllobotrhium pacificum infection in a 3 years old boy at Antofagasta, Chile

La diphyllobothriosis constituye una zoonosis relacionada con el consumo de carnes crudas o insuficientemente cocida de peces de agua dulce o mar. Se presenta un caso de diphyllobothriosis por Diphyllobothrium pacificum diagnosticado en Antofagasta en un niño de tres años, residente permanente en esta ciudad-puerto del Norte de Chile. El paciente eliminó espontáneamente una estróbila de 55 cm, a partir de la cual se realizó estudio morfométrico de proglótidas y huevos, concluyéndose que se trataba de un ejemplar de D. pacificum. Se administró tratamiento con praziquantel sin que se eliminaran nuevos ejemplares ni huevos, como tampoco se presentó anemia. Se investigó al grupo familiar constituido por cuatro personas sin encontrar otros infectados. Se destaca que los 16 casos de diphyllobothriosis por D. pacificum documentados en Chile, tres corresponden a niños entre 7 y 3 años