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At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Natural infections with promastigotes in man-biting species of sand flies in leishmaniasis-endemic areas of Ecuador.

In order to determine the vectors of leishmaniasis in Ecuador, 1,054 man biting sand flies from the Department of Cañar were dissected and examined for promastigotes. There were 2 man-biting species, Lu. trapidoi and Lu. hartmanni in this endemic area of the disease. The infection rates were 7.7% in the former and 3.9% in the latter species, demonstrating the different rates in various localities and altitudes of the study areas. There was an association between infection rates and the time of day, suggesting some connection with biting activity of sand fly species. In collections using human bait at 7 study areas in 5 Departments, 6 man-biting species were recognized, indicating different dominant species in each area. It was assumed that the dominant species would play an important role as the principal vector of leishmaniasis in each endemic area. As to species determination of the present Leishmania promastigotes, suffice it to say that the parasites are Leishmania sp., presumably L. braziliensis s.l., until the isolates have been typed.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Epidemiology of rotavirus in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Detection of rotavirus by electron microscopy was conducted with fecal specimens from 1,722 infants and young children with acute diarrhea, during a 41-month survey from April 1978 through December 1981 in Guayaquil, Ecuador; 376 of these specimens (21.8%) were positive. The detection rate was higher during the dry season (May to November; 25.2%) than during the rainy season (December to April; 14.7%). When rotaviruses isolated from 59 patients hospitalized with diarrhea (from April 1979 to July 1981) were subjected to genome RNA analysis by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, a single dominant electropherotype was found with other less common electropherotypes. An atypical rotavirus with a unique property was also found.

Adenoviridae Infections↗
PubMed1989

Identification, using isoenzyme electrophoresis and monoclonal antibodies, of Leishmania isolated from humans and wild animals of Ecuador.

Six strains of Leishmania isolated from wild mammals and humans on the Pacific Coast of Ecuador were identified by isoenzyme electrophoresis and by their reactivity patterns to a cross-panel of specific monoclonal antibodies using a radioimmune binding assay. Single isolates from Sciurus vulgaris, Potos flavus, and Tamandua tetradactyla were identified as Leishmania amazonensis. Three other strains, isolated from cutaneous lesions of humans, were identified as Leishmania panamensis.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Andean leishmaniasis in Ecuador caused by infection with Leishmania mexicana and L. major-like parasites.

Between 1986 and 1988, epidemiologic studies were carried out in a small rural community in an Andean region of Ecuador, where cutaneous leishmaniasis is highly endemic. A total of 25 human cases, positive for Leishmania parasites by culture and/or smear, were examined. Fourteen of the cases were in infants less than one year of age, suggesting intradomiciliary transmission of the disease. Clinically, many of these cases were similar to descriptions of "uta," a form of cutaneous leishmaniasis which occurs in Andean regions of Peru and is reported caused by L. peruviana. Of the 11 positive cultures obtained from human cases in the present study, eight were identified by molecular characterization as L. mexicana and three were identified as L. major-like. Two additional isolates of L. mexicana were also made from an infected dog and from a sand fly, Lutzomyia ayacuchensis, living in the region, thus implicating the latter species as possible reservoir and vector, respectively, of L. mexicana in this highland community. The significance and validity of recent isolates of L. major-like parasites from the New World are also discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Venomous snakebite in eastern Ecuador.

Treatment outcome of 294 hospitalized victims of snakebite injuries in Eastern Ecuador are reported, documenting high rates of morbidity and mortality. One or more major complications occurred in 25% of patients. Complications included blood loss severe enough to require transfusion (29 patients), abscess (26 patients), intracranial hemorrhage (15 patients) and major tissue loss (10 patients). Sixteen patients died, yielding a mortality rate of 5.4%. Death resulted from intracranial hemorrhage in 12 patients and from sequelae of hypovolemic shock in 4 patients.

Abscess↗
PubMed1995

Blood donors in a vector-free zone of Ecuador potentially infected with Trypanosoma cruzi.

Chagas' disease is a serious health problem for the population of South and Central America. Blood transfusion is the second most common way in which this disease is transmitted. Several studies have reported finding Trypanosoma cruzi-infected blood in blood banks in endemic areas. Serum samples were taken from the Red Cross blood bank in Quito, a nonendemic and vector free zone of Ecuador, in December 1992 and May 1993 and analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using crude epimastigote extract from the Brazil strain of T. cruzi. Of 162 samples examined in December 1992, 12.1%, 13.9%, and 74% were seropositive, indeterminate, and seronegative, respectively. Of 173 samples taken in May 1993, 6.2%, 17.9%, 75.9% were seropositive, indeterminate, and seronegative, respectively. Western blot analysis of these sera using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with 7.5% gels separated T. cruzi epimastigote antigen proteins, and revealed a reaction with a 205-kD doublet antigen with most of the seropositive samples. These results indicate the necessity for long-term screening of blood bank donors to reduce the risk of transfusion transmission of the disease even in areas of endemic countries where the vector is not present.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Insecticide-impregnated bed nets for malaria control: varying experiences from Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru concerning acceptability and effectiveness.

Between 1991 and 1994, an intervention program with permethrin- and lambdacyhalothrin-impregnated bed nets was carried out over a period of nine months in each of five endemic, malarious areas of Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. This program was evaluated through household surveys, blood sampling, in-depth longitudinal studies, and entomologic analysis. Eighty-four communities (including approximately 35,000 individuals) were paired according to malaria incidence, size, and coverage with bed nets and then randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The results showed that peoples' acceptance of the measure was related to their perception of an immediate protective effect against insects. The effectiveness of the bed nets, measured as a reduction of malaria incidence in intervention communities as against control communities, showed large variations between and within the study areas. The protective efficacy varied between 0% and 70% when looking only at the postintervention differences between intervention and control groups. The average protection was 40.8% when considering a four-month incidence of clinical malaria attacks and 28.3% when considering a two-week malaria incidence. Important factors for the success of the bed net program were insect susceptibility to pyrethroids, high coverage with impregnated bed nets, high malaria incidence, good community participation, high mosquito densities when people go to bed, and a high proportion of Plasmodium falciparum. In one area, where DDT spraying in the control communities was executed, the effectiveness of bed net impregnation was slightly better than that of spraying.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Neurocysticercosis and performance on neuropsychologic tests: a family study in Ecuador.

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a common neurologic disorder in developing countries, where it may pose a major public health challenge. Recently, the disorder has become more commonly diagnosed in developed countries as a result of the influx of migrants from countries where the disease is endemic. The clinical syndrome associated with NCC includes neurologic, physical, and functional problems. Since the locus of the infection is mainly the central nervous system, there is a risk of neuropsychologic dysfunction. This study was conducted in Ecuador in a group of 123 subjects (49 males and 74 females, 9-62 years of age) from a community sample that was part of a larger neuroepidemiologic inquiry. A discriminant function procedure was used to select the tests that would be most sensitive at distinguishing between affected and nonaffected individuals. The results suggest that behavioral functions that include aspects of inhibitory control, motor, and visual-motor output are impaired in adolescent and adult subjects with NCC.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Bartonellosis in Ecuador: serosurvey and current status of cutaneous verrucous disease.

Human bartonellosis is a classically biphasic disease caused by infection with the alpha-2 Proteobacteria Bartonella bacilliformis, which is phylogenetically related to the etiologic agents of cat scratch disease, bacillary angiomatosis, and trench fever. In Ecuador, typical bartonellosis has remained endemic for the past century in highland provinces near the Peruvian border. During the past six years, public health officials have noted an increasing number of atypical cases in which monophasic verrucous cutaneous disease is the only clinical manifestation. Epidemiologic, immunologic, histopathologic, and molecular biological studies have confirmed the presence of sporadic, atypical bartonellosis in residents of the lowland province of Manabi, where archeologic evidence exists of bartonellosis in pre-Colombian times. Between 1987 and 1995, 11 cases of cutaneous bartonellosis were investigated and serologic studies were done on 224 persons from five villages, two lowland and three highland. In the lowland village of Pajan in the province of Manabi, there was a 21% seropositivity proportion in contacts of index cases. These combined data suggest that bartonellosis is significantly under-reported due to the existence of mild clinical disease, possibly associated with less virulent bacterial strains, which are now disseminating or re-emerging in previously disease-free areas.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed1999

Case-control study of seropositivity for cysticercosis in Cuenca, Ecuador.

The prevalence of neurocysticercosis has been well documented in rural communities in Latin America using the enzyme-linked inmmunoelectrotransfer blot (EITB) assay. We studied the prevalence of neurocysticercosis in an urban, upper-middle class population in Cuenca, Ecuador. Family members of 34 index cases with parenchymal neurocysticercosis on a computed tomography (CT) scan and family members of 14 patients who had normal CT scans after a trauma or migraine were enrolled in the study. Serum was obtained from 226 individuals, 173 (72%) from the case families and 67 (28%) from the control families. Twelve percent of the case family members and 4% of the control family members were seropositive by the EITB assay. This was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) when age and education were held constant by logistic regression. Seropositivity was not related to age. No neurologic symptom proved predictive of serostatus and the only demographic variable that correlated with seropositivity was increased crowding. Positive serology in index cases did correlate with CT findings as follows: 86% of patients with active lesions, 67% with transitional lesions, and only 41% of patients with inactive lesions were positive by the EITB assay. Eighteen percent of family members with a positive EITB test result had parenchymal lesions on a subsequent CT scan. This study demonstrates a high rate of seropositivity of cysticercosis among urban, middle to upper-middle class individuals in a region endemic for Taenia solium. Household contacts of patients with neurocysticercosis had a three-fold higher risk of positive serology for cysticercosis, in comparison with controls.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An outbreak of fulminant hepatitis delta in the Waorani, an indigenous people of the Amazon basin of Ecuador.

An outbreak of delta hepatitis occurred during 1998 among the Waorani of the Amazon basin of Ecuador. Among 58 people identified with jaundice, 79% lived in four of 22 Waorani communities. Serum hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was found in the sera of 54% of the jaundiced persons, and 14% of asymptomatic persons. Ninety-five percent of 105 asymptomatic Waorani had hepatitis B core (HBc) IgG antibody, versus 98% of 51 with jaundice. These data confirm that hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is highly endemic among the Waorani. Sixteen of 23 (70%) HBsAg carriers identified at the onset of the epidemic had serologic markers for hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection. All 16 were jaundiced, where as only two of seven (29%) with negative HDV serology were jaundiced (P = .0006). The delta cases clustered in families, 69% were children and most involved superinfection of people chronically infected with HBV. The data suggest that HDV spread rapidly by a horizontal mode of transmission other than by the sexual route.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Amebic infections due to the Entamoeba histolytica-Entamoeba dispar complex: a study of the incidence in a remote rural area of Ecuador.

An epidemiologic field study was conducted in the village of Borbòn in Esmeraldas province in northern Ecuador to compare different parasitologic methods in the diagnosis of infection with the Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar complex. The results of two stool antigen detection assays (the Prospect Entamoeba histolytica microplate assay and the E. histolytica II assay) were compared with isoenzyme characterization of the amebic isolates. Nearly all (176 of 178, 98.9%) subjects were positive for intestinal parasites on direct microscopic examination, and cysts and/or vegetative forms morphologically consistent with the E. histolytica/E. dispar complex were recorded in 48 of 178 cases (27%). Culture in Robinson's medium was positive for amebic stocks in 89 (50%) of the 178 samples tested. Of the 37 isolates successfully stabilized, cloned, and characterized by zymodeme analysis, seven (18.9%) showed isoenzyme patterns of E. histolytica, whereas 26 (70.3%) showed patterns of E. dispar. The remaining four strains were identified as Entamoeba coli (three isolates; 8.1%) and Dientamoeba fragilis (one strain; 2.7%).The immunochromatographic tests showed different degrees of sensitivity and specificity when compared with isoenzyme characterization as the reference technique. The microplate assay, which does not discriminate between E. histolytica and E.dispar, showed a sensitivity of 54.5% and a specificity of 94% for both these amebic species. In contrast, the second-generation E. histolytica II test had a sensitivity of 14.3% and a specificity of 98.4% for E. histolytica sensu stricto. Our survey clearly demonstrated that more specific and sensitive diagnostic tests, such as stool antigen detection assays and isoenzyme analysis, are needed to establish the actual worldwide distribution of E. histolytica and E. dispar.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Hematology, plasma chemistry, and serology of the flightless cormorant (Phalacrocorax harrisi) in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

The flightless cormorant (Phalacrocorax harrisi) is an endemic species of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Health studies of the species have not previously been conducted. In August 2003, baseline samples were collected from flightless cormorant colonies on the islands of Isabela and Fernandina. Seventy-six birds, from nestlings to adults, were evaluated. Genetic sexing of 70 cormorants revealed 37 females and 33 males. Hematology assessment consisted of packed cell volume (n=19), leukograms (n=69), and blood smear evaluation (n=69). Microscopic evaluation of blood smears revealed microfilaria in 33% (23/69) of the cormorants. Plasma chemistries were performed on 46 cormorants. There was no significant difference in chemistry values or complete blood counts between male and female cormorants or between age groups. Based on a serologic survey to assess exposure to avian pathogens, birds (n=69) were seronegative for West Nile virus, avian paramyxovirus type 1 (Newcastle disease virus), avian paramyxovirus types 2 and 3, avian influenza, infectious bursal disease, infectious bronchitis, Marek's disease (herpes), reovirus, avian encephalomyelitis, and avian adenovirus type 2. Antibodies to avian adenovirus type 1 and Chlamydophila psittaci were found in 31% (21/68) and 11% (7/65) of flightless cormorants respectively. Chlamydophila psittaci was detected via polymerase chain reaction in 6% (2/33) of the cormorants. The overall negative serologic findings of this research suggest that the flightless cormorant is an immunologically naïve species, which may have a reduced capacity to cope with the introduction of novel pathogens.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Hematology, serum chemistry, and serology of Galápagos penguins (Spheniscus mendiculus) in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.

The Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is an endangered species endemic to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. In 2003 and 2004, 195 penguins from 13 colonies on the islands of Isabela and Fernandina in the Galápagos archipelago were examined. Genetic sexing of 157 penguins revealed 62 females and 95 males. Hematology consisted of packed cell volume (n = 134), white blood cell differentials (n = 83), and hemoparasite blood smear evaluation (n = 114). Microfilariae were detected in 22% (25/114) of the blood smears. Female penguins had significantly higher eosinophil counts than males. Serum chemistry on 83 penguins revealed no significant differences between males and females. Birds were seronegative to avian paramyxovirus type 1-3, avian influenza virus, infectious bursal disease virus, Marek's disease virus (herpes), reovirus, avian encephalomyelitis virus, and avian adenovirus type 1 and 2 (n = 75), as well as to West Nile virus (n = 87), and Venezuelan, western and eastern equine encephalitis viruses (n = 26). Seventy-five of 84 (89%) penguins had antibodies to Chlamydophila psittaci but chlamydial DNA was not detected via polymerase chain reaction in samples from 30 birds.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Pararhinebothroides hobergi n. gen. n. sp. (Eucestoda: Tetraphyllidea) in Urobatis tumbesensis (Chondrichthyes: Myliobatiformes) from coastal Ecuador.

A new species of tetraphyllidean eucestode inhabiting Urobatis tumbesensis from inshore waters of southeastern Ecuador shares 3 synapomorphies with Rhinebothroides spp.: apical bothridial suckers poorly differentiated from the marginal loculi, internal seminal vesicles, and insertion of the vas deferens dorsally closer to the poral than the aporal end of the cirrus sac. The new species differs from Rhinebothroides spp. by lacking medial bothridial septa and loculi and having symmetrical ovarian arms, and possesses an apparent autapomorphic trait by having the vas deferens tapering to a narrow tube before entering the cirrus sac, extending posteriorly to the posterior end of the cirrus sac where it expands into an external seminal vesicle running ventral to the cirrus sac anteriorly to anterior to the vagina. In Rhinebothroides spp., the vas deferens is expanded into an external seminal vesicle near the insertion into the cirrus sac As the sister group of Rhinebothroides, we propose a new genus to accommodate the new species. Phylogenetic evaluation of phyllobothriids recently assigned to Anthocephalum shows that they represent a paraphyletic assemblage of species of varying degrees of relatedness to Rhinebothroides spp. and the new species. Uncovering the relationships of the new species and the various species assigned to Anthocephalum permitted reevaluation of character transformations used in previous phylogenetic analysis of Rhinebothroides. Transformation series for 3 characters, previously based on functional outgroup comparisons, changed and a new character, length of cirrus sac, was added. The new phylogenetic analysis differs from the previous hypothesis only in placing R. scorzai as the sister species of R. circularisi + R. venezuelae + R. moralarai rather than of R. freitasi + R. glandularis + R. mclennanae. The occurrence of the sister species of Rhinebothroides in a Pacific Ocean stingray adds additional support to the hypothesis of Pacific origins of South American freshwater stingrays.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

[Evaluation of epidemiologic surveillance systems: analysis of different approaches in a study in Ecuador].

Based on the experience of the assessment of public health surveillance systems, this paper explores the relationship between knowledge and action. Like research, evaluation is a cognitive process however oriented to a specific aim. Thus it is possible to compare the various approaches of evaluating these systems using the frame of paradigms in sciences (positivism, post positivism, critical theory and constructivism). In addition, evaluation aims to improve the functioning of the system, to introduce changes in it. The fourth generation evaluation, as it has been done in Ecuador, is an interesting way of acquiring understanding of the system while solving its malfunctionings. In this experience, the evaluator seeks the participation of the actors of the system at each steps of the evaluation process. He searches to involved them through three levels: intellectual, affective and ontological.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗
PubMed2000

Ecuador: police force HIV testing on detained transvestites.

In September 2000, Amnesty International reported that nine transvestite sex workers were detained by police in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 5 July 2000 for over three weeks on charges of crimes against decency and violating "public morals." AI believes they were detained solely because of their identity as transvestites, and notes that these are not isolated cases.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗