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Mercedes Pérez-Ruiz

Publications and source records attributed to Mercedes Pérez-Ruiz.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Influenza-like illness criteria were poorly related to laboratory-confirmed influenza in a sentinel surveillance study.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the most related clinical data for influenza and the utility of influenza-like illness criteria as the clinical threshold for sampling in an influenza sentinel surveillance over a 3-year period. METHODS: Sentinel physicians collected throat specimens and data from outpatients with acute respiratory infection (< or = 72 hours duration). Laboratory-confirmed influenza infection was compared with independent symptoms and the influenza-like illness criteria, as defined by the Classification Committee of the World Organization of Family Doctors. RESULTS: From 1934 patients, 359 (18.56%) yielded positive results for influenza viruses. Only 199 (55.4%) of laboratory-confirmed cases fulfilled clinical criteria of influenza-like illness: positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV) of 0.36 and 0.88, respectively. Fever, cough, and rhinorrhea individually correlated with influenza infections (PPV: 0.30, 0.20, and 0.20, respectively; NPV: 0.92, 0.87, and 0.85, respectively). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the correlation of influenza infection with the presence of fever and cough was similar to the correlation between influenza infection and influenza-like illness criteria (odds ratio 2.24 vs. 2.71, respectively). CONCLUSION: Influenza-like illness criteria are poorly related to laboratory-confirmed influenza. For early detection of influenza viruses in surveillance systems, a less restrictive clinical criterion (specifically, acute respiratory infection) perhaps should be followed.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2005

Toscana virus in Spain.

Toscana virus (TOSV, Phlebovirus, family Bunyaviridae) infection is one of the most prevalent arboviruses in Spain. Within the objectives of a multidisciplinary network, a study on the epidemiology of TOSV was conducted in Granada, in southern Spain. The overall seroprevalence rate was 24.9%, significantly increasing with age. TOSV was detected in 3 of 103 sandfly pools by viral culture or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from a region of the L gene. Nucleotide sequence homology was 99%-100% in TOSV from vectors and patients and 80%-81% compared to the Italian strain ISS Phl.3. Sequencing of the N gene of TOSV isolates from patients and vectors indicated 87%-88% and 100% homology at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively, compared to the Italian strain. These findings demonstrate the circulation of at least 2 different lineages of TOSV in the Mediterranean basin, the Italian lineage and the Spanish lineage.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

[Meningitis by Toscana virus in Spain: description of 17 cases].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: We aimed to analyze the clinical and epidemiological data from the first series of patients with meningitis by Toscana virus in Spain. PATIENTS AND METHOD: We analyzed a total of 724 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients with suspicion of aseptic meningitis for virus isolation in cell culture. The clinical records of patients in whom Toscana virus was isolated were analyzed. RESULTS: Toscana virus was isolated in CSF in 17 patients (7% of all viral isolates). The first case was diagnosed in June 1988 and the last one in August 2002. The mean age was 27 years (range: 10-64 years). Most patients were based in rural area (n = 11, 64.7%). Most common symptoms were headache (holocranial or focal) present in all patients and moderate fever observed in 76.5% of them with a mean duration of 48 h (range: 18 h-5 days). Nuchal rigidity was present in 9 patients (53%). All cases were seen between June and October, and predominantly in August (53%). The outcome was favorable in all cases, and the mean time of duration of the disease was 7 days (range: 3-10 days). CONCLUSIONS: Toscana virus must be taken into account among those agents responsible of lymphocytic meningitis in Spain.

Adolescent↗