Caracterización de lactantes con infección del tracto urinario:2009-2010: Hospital Regional de Antofagasta / Characterization of infants with urinary tract infection: 2009-2010: Regional Hospital of Antofagasta

INTRODUCCION: Las infecciones del tracto urinario (ITU) son una de las enfermedades bacterianas más frecuentes en pediatría. La incidencia de ITU en el paciente pediátrico no se conoce con exactitud. En recién nacidos se estima en 1 por ciento con una mayor proporción de varones, mientras que en lactantes aumenta entre 3 a 5 por ciento con igual proporción en ambos sexos. OBJETIVO: Caracterizar el perfil clínico-epidemiológico de lactantes con diagnóstico de ITU en el servicio de Pediatría del Hospital Regional de Antofagasta. PACIENTES Y METODOS: Estudio descriptivo retrospectivo de corte transversal. Se analizaron fichas clínicas de pacientes de la unidad de lactantes del Servicio de Pediatría del Hospital Regional de Antofagasta con diagnóstico de ITU al egreso del periodo Mayo 2009 - Mayo 2010. La muestra final fue 88 pacientes. Los datos fueron analizados y tabulados en una planilla Excel2007. RESULTADOS: Un 71,5 por ciento fueron sexo femenino. La edad promedio fue de 8,9 meses con rango entre 1 mes y 23 meses. Los síntomas más frecuentes fueron fiebre (97,7 por ciento), vómitos (30,7 por ciento), diarrea (23,1 por ciento), inapetencia (21.6 por ciento) y llanto/irritabilidad (16 por ciento). Las alteraciones de laboratorio fueron PCR elevada (96 por ciento), piuria (94,3 por ciento), leucocitosis (87,5 por ciento) y nitritos positivos (48 por ciento). Sólo fueron consignados el 85,2 por ciento de los urocultivos, de los cuales el patógeno más frecuente fue Escherichia coli en el 84 por ciento. DISCUSION: La ITU en lactantes en nuestro estudio fue más frecuente en el sexo femenino, teniendo como signo preponderante la fiebre. El germen más común fue Escherichia coli, correlacionándose con la literatura. Valoramos la importancia de solicitar urocultivos para la confirmación microbiológica.

INTRODUCTION: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most frequent bacterial diseases in pediatrics. The incidence of UTI in pediatric patients is not known with accuracy. In newborns is estimated in 1 percent with a larger proportion in males, while in infants increase between 3 to 5 percent with the same proportion for both sex. OBJECTIVE: Characterize clinically and epidemiologically the profile of infants diagnosed with UTI in the Pediatric service of the Regional Hospital of Antofagasta. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study. Medical records of patients diagnosed with UTI by the end of the period of May 2009 - May 2010 from the unit of infants in the Pediatric Service of the Regional Hospital of Antofagasta were analyzed. The final sample was 88 patients. The data was analyzed using an Excel 2007 spreadsheet. RESULTS: 71,5 percent were women. The average age was 8,9 month in a range between 0,5 and 23 month. Most frequent symptoms were fever (97,7 percent), vomit (30,7 percent), diarrhea (23,1 percent), lack of appetite (21,6 percent) and crying/irritability (16 percent). The alterations in laboratory was CRP high (96 percent), pyuria (94,3 percent) and leukocytosis (87,5 percent). Only were record the 85, 2 percent of urine culture of which the most frequent pathogenic agent was Escherichia coli in the 84 percent of the cases. DISCUSSION: The UTI in infants in our study was more frequent in women and its predominant symptom is fever. The most common germ was Escherichia coli which agree the literature. We value the importance of ask for urine culture to microbiological confirmation.

Treatment of Trypanosoma cruzi-infected children with nifurtimox: a 3 year follow-up by PCR.

Patients suffering from Chagas' disease, as determined by positive serological results, were tested for further evidence of Trypanosoma cruzi infection by xenodiagnosis and PCR. The patients included 67 children aged from 0 to 10 years and 75 adults. All children were positive by PCR on their pre-therapy sample, while only 69% of the seropositive adults and none of the 78 seronegative control adults were PCR positive. Xenodiagnosis was positive in 79% of the children, but only in 21% of the adults. A group of 66 children was treated with nifurtimox, and followed up every 3 months during the first year and every 6 months during the second and third year post-therapy, by PCR, xenodiagnosis and serology. We concluded that PCR was the most effective test to monitor children for 3 years post-chemotherapy, when all the cases converted from positive to negative. Conventional serology, however, remained positive after that period in most cases. In contrast, conversion to negative xenodiagnosis occurred very early after treatment.

Identification of Trypanosoma cruzi genotypes circulating in Chilean chagasic patients.

Parasite DNA amplified by PCR from blood of 73 chagasic children and adults of two endemic areas of Chile were studied by Southern blot and/or dot blot hybridization analysis with a panel of three minicircle probes corresponding to the parasite genotypes (clonets 19, 33 and 39). The hybridization pattern of the PCR positive samples identified clonets 39, 19/20, and 32/33 with frequencies of 0.84, 0.32 and 0.26, respectively. A total of 31 samples corresponded to mixed infections. The most frequently found mixtures were: clonets 39 and 19/20 (14 cases), followed by clonets 39 and 32/33 (8 cases), clonets 39, 32/33 and 19/20 (8 cases), and clonets 32/33 and 19/20 (1 case). Amplified DNA from 9 cases showed no hybridization signal with none of the three studied probes indicating that other genotypes different to the ones mentioned are circulating in humans, but that the clonets used as probes are the most prevalent ones in terms of transmission in the endemic areas studied. A biological characterization of 34 T. cruzi populations isolated from the xenodiagnosis of the patients was performed on an experimental murine model. The biochemical characterization of the parasite populations by molecular karyotype determined that the most frequent parasite isolated from patients belongs to clonet 39.