A new endemic focus of Chagas disease in the northern region of Veraguas Province, Western Half Panama, Central America.

BACKGROUND: Chagas disease was originally reported in Panama in 1931. Currently, the best knowledge of this zoonosis is restricted to studies done in historically endemic regions. However, little is known about the distribution and epidemiology of Chagas disease in other rural areas of the country. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out between May 2005 - July 2008 in four rural communities of the Santa Fe District, Veraguas Province. The study included an entomologic search to collect triatomines, bloodmeal type identification and infection rate with trypanosomes in collected vectors using a dot- blot and PCR analysis, genotyping of circulating Trypanosoma cruzi (mini-exon gene PCR analysis) and the detection of chagasic antibodies among inhabitants. The vector Rhodnius pallescens was more frequently found in La Culaca and El Pantano communities (788 specimens), where it was a sporadic household visitor. These triatomines presented darker coloration and larger sizescompared with typical specimens collected in Central Panama. Triatoma dimidiata was more common in Sabaneta de El Macho (162 specimens). In one small sub-region (El Macho), 60% of the houses were colonized by this vector. Of the examined R. pallescens, 54.7.0% (88/161) had fed on Didelphis marsupialis, and 24.6% (34/138) of T. dimidiata specimens collected inside houses were positive for human blood. R. pallescens presented an infection index with T. cruzi of 17.7% (24/136), with T. rangeli of 12.5% (17/136) and 50.7% (69/136) were mixed infections. In 117 T. dimidiata domestic specimens the infection index with T. cruzi was 21.4%. Lineage I of T. cruzi was confirmed circulating in these vectors. A T. cruzi infection seroprevalence of 2.3% (24/1,056) was found in this population. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of Chagas disease endemicity in Santa Fe District, and it should be considered a neglected public health problem in this area of Panama.

Molecular epidemiology of American tegumentary leishmaniasis in Panama.

American tegumentary leishmaniasis is an increasing public health problem in Panama. This study describes the clinical characteristics and the molecular epidemiology of leishmaniasis in Panama over a 5-year period (2004-2008). Additionally, we applied a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)-based assay to identify Leishmania species in clinical isolates, skin scrapings, and sandflies specimens. Whereas 60.3% of cases were detected with conventional parasitologic techniques (smear or in vitro culture), the PCR detected 72% positive patients. Our clinical-epidemiologic data corroborate the high incidence of L. (Viannia) panamensis and provide evidence of peridomestic and/or domestic transmission. Mucosal involvement was observed in 4.2% of the patients. The overall natural infection rate with Leishmania in 103 pools of sandflies was 0.46%. Lutzomyia gomezi and Lutzomya panamensis were the prevalent species incriminated as vectors at the capture sites in central Panama. This study contributes to a better knowledge of the current epidemiology of tegumentary leishmaniasis in Panama.

Efectos del alcohol etílico y de la dieta sobre el metabolismo hepático en ratones / Efectos of the etílico alcohol and the diet on the hepático metabolism in mice

El alcoholismo es un grave problema de salud pública, afecta alrededor del 10 por ciento de la población y es la cuarta causa más frecuente de mortalidad. El conocimiento de las complicaciones agudas derivadas del consumo de alcohol ya sean consecuencia de una intoxicación aguda o de una ingesta crónica, puede contribuir a un diagnóstico temprano de las mismas. Por estas razones y para ampliar nuestros conocimientos, sobre el tema ejecutamos el protocolo efectos del alcohol etílico y la dieta sobre el metabolismo hepático. Para la realización del mismo utilizamos un lote de 20 ratones blancos con características similares; de los cuales se asignó 5 animales al grupo de estudio A1, 5 al grupo A2; 5 al grupo de control B1 y 5 al grupo B2...