ABSTRACT
Research is ongoing on eighteen cases of Legionellosis, including four deaths, identified among tourists and employees in a hotel in Calp, Spain. Cases occurred during a period of two months, indicating the possibility of a point-source transmission at the hotel. An environmental investigation identified several positive samples in the hotel, which as a precautionary measure, was closed until requested improvements were made. Surveillance measures currently remain active.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks , Drinking Water/microbiology , Legionnaires' Disease/epidemiology , Travel , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Humans , Legionella pneumophila/isolation & purification , Legionnaires' Disease/diagnosis , Legionnaires' Disease/microbiology , Legionnaires' Disease/transmission , Male , Middle Aged , Population Surveillance , Spain/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Aiming to study the applicability and reproducibility of four commercial kits used for the serological detection of Chagas disease (Chagatest-Inst Invest Paraguay, Ortho Chagas, Abbott Chagas (ELISA tests) and Estabilgen Hemo Chagas (indirect hemagglutination test)), a comparative serological study was performed in 256 sera samples coming from a highly endemic area, 249 samples from a low endemic area, 180 reference sera and 2264 samples coming from three blood banks. Specificity of the kits was excellent and sensitivity ranged from 60 to 100%. The indirect hemagglutination test has the lower sensitivity. Some disagreements in the results were observed in the three blood banks, probably due to an unsatisfactory reactive management. We conclude that ELISA tests should be recommended for routine detection of Chagas disease and that for this purpose, a net of laboratories under the direction of a national reference center should exist. This center should assess new commercial products, train technicians and supervise the laboratories.
