Urban Chagas disease in children and women in primary care centres in Buenos Aires, Argentina

The primary objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of this disease in women of childbearing age and children treated at health centres in underserviced areas of the city of Buenos Aires. Demographic and Chagas disease status data were collected. Samples for Chagas disease serology were obtained on filter paper and the reactive results were confirmed with conventional samples. A total of 1,786 subjects were screened and 73 positive screening results were obtained: 17 were from children and 56 were from women. The Trypanosoma cruziinfection risk was greater in those individuals who had relatives with Chagas disease, who remember seeing kissing bugs, who were of Bolivian nationality or were born in the Argentine province of Santiago del Estero. The overall prevalence of Chagas disease was 4.08%. Due to migration, Chagas disease is currently predominantly urban. The observed prevalence requires health programme activities that are aimed at urban children and their mothers. Most children were infected congenitally, which reinforces the need for Chagas disease screening of all pregnant women and their babies in Argentina. The active search for new cases is important because the appropriate treatment in children has a high cure rate.

Urban Chagas disease in children and women in primary care centres in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The primary objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of this disease in women of childbearing age and children treated at health centres in underserviced areas of the city of Buenos Aires. Demographic and Chagas disease status data were collected. Samples for Chagas disease serology were obtained on filter paper and the reactive results were confirmed with conventional samples. A total of 1,786 subjects were screened and 73 positive screening results were obtained: 17 were from children and 56 were from women. The Trypanosoma cruzi infection risk was greater in those individuals who had relatives with Chagas disease, who remember seeing kissing bugs, who were of Bolivian nationality or were born in the Argentine province of Santiago del Estero. The overall prevalence of Chagas disease was 4.08%. Due to migration, Chagas disease is currently predominantly urban. The observed prevalence requires health programme activities that are aimed at urban children and their mothers. Most children were infected congenitally, which reinforces the need for Chagas disease screening of all pregnant women and their babies in Argentina. The active search for new cases is important because the appropriate treatment in children has a high cure rate.

Hexachlorobenzene-induced early changes in ornithine decarboxylase and protein tyrosine kinase activities, polyamines and c-Myc, c-Fos and c-Jun proto-oncogenes in rat liver.

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) is a lipophilic chemical compound that is widely distributed in the environment. HCB is known to cause liver tumors in experimental animals. In the present study the in vivo effect of HCB treatment on ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) activities, free polyamine content, and c-Myc, c-Fos, and c-Jun protein levels in rat liver were investigated. HCB (1000 mg/kg body weight) increased hepatic immunodetectable c-Myc, c-Fos, and c-Jun levels after 6 h, and ODC activity and spermine and putrescine content after 18 and 24 h, while maximum stimulation of PTK activity occurred at 12 h. PTK and ODC activities varied in a dose-dependent manner. The time-course of c-Myc, c-Fos, and c-Jun protein levels was different for each proto-oncogene. They were all elevated at the second day of treatment, while only c-Fos and c-Jun remained elevated after 10 days of HCB exposure. These data jointly suggest that the increase in ODC activity may be the consequence of proto-oncogene induction. The alterations in PTK activity suggest that the growth factor signal transduction pathway may be involved in the regulation of the proto-oncogene levels or/and ODC activity. The decrease in PTK activity after the first day, even in the presence of alpha-D-Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), an inhibitor of ODC activity, suggests that it is not regulated by polyamines. These results may be relevant to the early molecular events involved in HCB tumor promoter activity in rat liver.