ABSTRACT
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) has shown intermediate endemicity in Argentina, but its incidence has decreased since vaccine introduction in 2005. Environmental surveillance was conducted in five rivers from Argentina from 2005 to 2012, complementing clinical information. HAV detection decreased since 2005, although its circulation continues, maintaining viral diversity but not undergoing antigenic drift. Most sequences belonged to subgenotype IA, closely related to Argentinean clinical sequences, but one belonged to proposed subgenotype IC, previously undetected in the country. Environmental surveillance might contribute to monitoring the single-dose vaccination schedule, representing not only strains causing disease but also the circulating population and the viral introductions.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis A Vaccines/administration & dosage , Hepatitis A virus/isolation & purification , Hepatitis A/epidemiology , Adolescent , Adult , Argentina/epidemiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Genotype , Hepatitis A/virology , Humans , Infant , Male , Molecular Sequence Data , RNA, Viral/genetics , Rivers/virology , Sequence Analysis, DNA , Young AdultABSTRACT
A serosurvey for human hydatidosis and cysticercosis was performed in different regions of Peru. Those regions included a known endemic area for cystic hydatid disease, a cooperative in the central Peruvian Andes near the city of Tarma, Department of Junin; three areas endemic for cysticercosis in the Departments of Ancash, Cuzco, and San Martin, where the status of hydatid disease is not well defined; and an urban shantytown near Lima, where neither zoonosis is known to be present. A seroprevalence for hydatidosis 1.9% (6 of 309) was found with both the enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (EITB) and double diffusion assays in the area endemic for hydatidosis. Seroprevalence in the other zones tested was zero using only the EITB assay. Cysticercosis seroprevalence was high in pig-raising zones but low in the high-altitude, sheep-raising areas and in the seaport of Callao. No cross-reactions between Echinococcus granulosus and cysticercosis were noted in any of the regions studied. Hydatid infection remains a major health problem in the central Peruvian Andes where sheep raising is widely practiced; however, in those regions where mainly swine are raised, human hydatid infection is not a problem.