First finding of dipetalonema perstans in Colombia. Filariasis in Colombia. 3.
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Three treponemal infections of man have coexisted in Colombia, South America for centuries. In former years, Colombia and Mexico were the world's most highly endemic countries for pinta. Within Colombia, highest rates of infection with pinta occurred among the mestizo and Indian populations in the Andean and Caribbean departments of Huila, Tolima, Antiochia, Magdalena and Cesar. Yaws occurred primarily in rural areas along the Pacific coast among descendants of African slaves. Infectious syphilis is most often reported from the three largest urban areas, and from three other densely populated departments in the Andean region. During the 21-year period from 1954 to 1974, almost four times as many cases of pinta as yaws were reported. The incidence rates of yaws and pinta have declined almost in parallel in Colombia, even though there has been a national campaign against yaws, but not against pinta. The incidence of primary and secondary syphilis increased only slightly during the same period. The total burden of reported treponematoses (excluding tertiary and congenital syphilis) declinded by over 40 per cent, while the ratios of reported yaws, pinta and infectious syphilis rose from 1:3:4 in 1954 to 1:7:975 in 1974.
Components of (co)variance and genetic parameters were estimated by REML procedures from first lactation mature equivalent Holstein milk records from 54,604 Colombian, Mexican, and Puerto Rican cows and 198,079 US cows. The objective was to determine the cause of heterogeneous daughter response to sire selection for milk yield between the regions. Data from Latin America were partitioned by country and by herd-year SD class for milk to obtain five joint analyses between the US and Latin America, low herd-year SD, high herd-year SD, Colombia, and Mexico. Sire and residual variances for milk were 41 and 29% smaller in Latin America than in the US, 47 and 58% smaller for low than for high herd-year SD, and 31 and 49% smaller for Colombia than for Mexico. Resultant heritabilities ranged from .20 to .29. Genetic correlations for milk yield between the US and Latin America, low and high herd-year SD, Colombia, and Mexico were .91, .82, .89, .78, and .90. Expected correlated responses for milk in Latin America, low and high herd-year SD, Colombia, and Mexico were 70, 53, 79, 56, and 78% of the direct response in the US. The scaling effects of heterogeneous variance resulted in smaller daughter milk responses in Latin America compared with the US even when herd-year SD was similar.
In spite of progress made to control tropical diseases many developing countries in the world still show high rates of incidence. A program for malaria eradication has been in operation in Colombia since 1953, and the malaria incidence rate was falling until 1971. However, in recent years the rate has begun to rise again in affected areas of the country. The resurgence of the disease leads one to think that traditional methods of controlling it are approaching the saturation point, and a reassessment of the determinants of the problem is needed in order to identify social and economic factors that might be playing an important role by themselves or in association with epidemiological or health determinants of the disease. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology which is being applied to the analysis of social, economic and health determinants of malaria incidence in Colombia. The model is theoretically based on a home economics framework. However, an expansion of the original version is made to take into account social and organizational factors which are thought to be important in the Colombian case. Economic variables included in the testing of the model are income, wealth and occupation. Social variables include education and housing conditions. Health factors considered are nutrition and health services. The model is tested using data collected in July 1982 in one of the most malaria affected areas of Colombia, and preliminary results are presented.
Dengue fever, a major mosquito-borne viral disease, is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and poses a significant global health burden. Despite extensive research, the spatiotemporal dynamics of dengue virus (DENV) lineages in Colombia remain understudied. Here, we analyze 11,443 complete genome sequences from Colombia and the Americas to map the genomic epidemiology of DENV-2 and DENV-3. Phylogeographic reconstruction revealed multiple independent introductions and exportations of the DENV-2 II and III lineages, as well as the DENV-3 lineage III_C.2, underscoring Colombia's critical role as both a source and a sink of viral traffic within the Americas. Antigenic profiling demonstrated distinct clustering of emergent lineages in antigenic space, consistent with immune-escape-driven turnover. These results highlight the necessity of sustained, high-resolution genomic surveillance to guide targeted public health interventions and mitigate dengue transmission across the region.
This paper investigates the effects of maternal demographic characteristics and social and economic statuses on infant mortality in rural Colombia. Demographic characteristics include the age of the mother, parity and length of preceding interbirth interval, and sex of infant. Measures of women's status at the time of birth include education, wage labor and occupation, economic stratum, place of residence, and whether the mother is living with a husband. The life history data for the study (involving 4,928 births) were collected in 1986 from a representative sample of two cohorts of women resident in rural central Colombia. Overall differentials in infant mortality by measures of women's status are small and are in good part associated with the differing reproductive behaviors of the women and variations in breastfeeding practices. The sharp declines in infant mortality recorded in rural Colombia in recent years appear less related to improved status of women than to reductions in fertility that enhance infant survivorship and to public health interventions shared by all segments of the population.
By the beginning of this century, yaws was a well-known endemic disease in Colombia. Colombian authorities estimated that by early 1930 there were 70,000 active cases of yaws, most of which were located in the Pacific coastal regions. With the advent of penicillin therapy, Colombia organized an anti-yaws campaign, which began in 1950. The campaign relied on the use of penicillin and house-to-house case finding. From 1950 to 1953 more than 111,000 persons with active cases of yaws and 125,000 of their contacts were treated with penicillin. The reported incidence of yaws declined dramatically, and by 1973 only 573 cases were reported in the endemic areas. By 1983 this number had fallen to 31. Because of the persistence of small foci of yaws activity, the anti-yaws campaign has been reorganized to provide a firm basis for the final eradication of the disease in Colombia.
Major clusters of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) emerged during the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreaks in the South Pacific and the Americas from 2014 to 2016. The factors contributing to GBS susceptibility in ZIKV infection remain unclear, although considerations of viral variation, patient susceptibility, environmental influences, and other potential factors have been hypothesized. Studying the role of viral genetic factors has been challenging due to the low viral load and rapid viral clearance from the blood after the onset of Zika symptoms. The prolonged excretion of ZIKV in urine by the time of GBS onset, when the virus is no longer present in the blood, provides an opportunity to unravel whether specific ZIKV mutations are related to the development of GBS in certain individuals. This study aimed to investigate the association between specific ZIKV genotypes and the development of GBS, taking advantage of a unique collection of ZIKV-positive urine samples obtained from GBS cases and controls during the 2016 ZIKV outbreak in Colombia. Utilizing Oxford-Nanopore technology, we conducted complete genome sequencing of ZIKV in biological samples from 15 patients with GBS associated with ZIKV and 17 with ZIKV infection without neurological complications. ZIKV genotypes in Colombia exhibited distribution across three clades (average bootstrap of 90.9±14.9%), with two clades dominating the landscape. A comparative analysis of ZIKV genomes from GBS and non-neurological complications, alongside 1368 previously reported genomes, revealed no significant distinctions between the two groups. Both genotypes were similarly distributed among observed clades in Colombia. Furthermore, no variations were identified in the amino acid composition of the viral genome between the two groups. Our findings suggest that GBS in ZIKV infection is perhaps associated with patient susceptibility and/or other para- or post-infectious immune-mediated mechanisms rather than with specific ZIKV genome variations.
In their efforts to set up orthopaedic technical services, less developed countries such as Colombia have often relied on so called "turn key" technology transfers depending on the know-how and the infrastructures in industrial countries. The sophisticated industrial product stands thus in sharp contrast to the "single item" product which relies on traditional crafts and local materials. Both extreme forms of technology are currently employed in most less developed countries including Colombia. While the high-technology product is costly and requires a specialized base to produce and to service it, the "single item" product lacks generally the minimum requirements in terms of uniform quality, biomechanical function and cosmetic acceptability. Although the remarkably high standard of industrial products explain their worldwide demand and distribution, it should not be concluded that countries such as Colombia have no other choice than to adopt these technologies. In search of an intermediate alternative, the potential of a yet undervalued, appropriate technology is explored and an accurate account of its advantages is given.
In Colombia, Psychology started associated with Medicine and Education. In a more strict sense, it begins with the founding of the Institute of Applied Psychology at the National University of Colombia, in 1948. This is one of the oldest training centers for Psychologists in Latin America, without interruption until today. The areas of outstanding professional interest are Educational Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Social Psychology. The main research areas are the experimental analysis of behavior, and Social Psychology. There is a professional association the Colombia Federation of Psychology, that has defined the roles and fields of competence of Psychologists, and established the training requirements (5 years, including practical field work and experience and a thesis), to obtain a degree of Psychologist. All Faculties and Departments of Psychology in the country follow the same curricular and requirements model.
Anopheles albitarsis obtained from Villavicencio, Colombia, were colonized in the laboratory using force-mating techniques. Laboratory reared mosquitoes were allowed to feed on Aotus monkeys infected with the Salvador II or the Rio Meta strains of Plasmodium vivax from El Salvador and Colombia, respectively. In comparison with other species, the An. albitarsis were less susceptible than Anopheles freeborni, Anopheles culicifacies and strains of Anopheles albimanus from El Salvador, Panama and Colombia and more susceptible than a strain of An. albimanus from Haiti.
This paper reports on recent epidemiological observations in western Colombia, which further demonstrate the presence of naturally-occurring goitrogens contaminating water supplies in areas where goitre persists despite prolonged and continuous iodine supplementation. 'Prospective' and 'cross-sectional' studies in 41 localities where the populations have been on a uniform and adequate iodine supplementation for the last 10-20 years indicate that, in the endemia of western Colombia, environmental factors other than nutritional iodine deficiency are responsible for differences in goitre prevalence. Further epidemiological studies to determine the causal factors for the persistence of the endemia established a correlation between the sources of drinking water and goitre prevalence rates. Organic compounds containing sulfur with marked thionamide-like antithyroid activity were isolated from water supplying endemic goitre districts, and results are presented supporting the hypothesis that sedimentary rocks rich in organic matter are the main source of water-borne goitrogens. Bacteriological investigations showed that the presence of Klebsiella pneumoniae in drinking water and bacterial concentration were related significantly with goitre prevalence only in the presence of other variables, particularly the presence of sedimentary rocks. In the light of these epidemiological observations and experimental studies it may be concluded that, at present, endemic goitre in western Colombia is not due to nutritional iodine deficiency, but that water supplies are contaminated with sulfur-bearing organic compounds with thionamide-like antithyroid activity most probably deriving from sedimentary rocks rich in organic matter and that these compounds are the main factor underlying the endemia.
Seventy-nine cases of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), which correspond to one of every 1,000 malignant tumors, were reviewed at the National Institute of Cancer (NIC), Bogotá, Colombia, from 1935 to 1985. Seventy-four percent of the patients were older than 65 years of age. The male to female ratio was 8:1. In all cases, plaques and nodules first appeared in the lower limbs; they were symmetrical in 47% of the cases and ulcerated in 25%. No generalized or epidemic forms were seen. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma concurrent with KS was observed in one case. KS developed several years after treatment for follicular lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia in two patients. An angiosarcomatous variant and one fibrosarcomatous change were seen. Ten cases studied for factor VIII expression through the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) technique were all reactive. We conclude that in Colombia before 1985, KS behaved as a chronic multicentric Stage I disease without a tendency to associate simultaneously with malignant conditions.
A high-incidence focus of tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) occurs on the South Pacific coast of Colombia. Of 55 patients studied, 52 (94.5%) had IgG antibodies to the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid. Control groups did not show similar high positivity. Our results suggest that HTLV-I or other antigenically related retroviruses may be the cause of TSP in Colombia. Similar clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological findings have been reported in widely remote geographical regions of the world, with very similar clinical pictures of TSP in all high-incidence regions. The demonstration of IgG antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with TSP in the Caribbean and Seychelles Islands, southern Japan, and the Ivory Coast indicate that the HTLV-I retrovirus could be the cause of this "tropical" myeloneuropathy.
The prevalences of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis delta virus and hepatitis A virus infections were studied in two regions of Colombia. In Bogota, 10 of 53 patients with acute hepatitis were HBsAg positive and three of these were hepatitis D antigen positive. Hepatitis A virus was the major cause of acute hepatitis in this group. In 366 healthy controls from Bogota, 1.6% were HBsAg positive and 7.1% had at least one marker of HBV infection. In northern Colombia, individuals from three villages with outbreaks of the fulminant "hepatitis of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta" were tested. The prevalences of HBsAg (1.8 to 23%) and HBV infection (35 to 93%) were generally high and varied from village to village; 60% of the HBsAg carriers in one village were positive for antibody to hepatitis D antigen, and two individuals in the outbreak area had circulating hepatitis D antigen. The findings suggest that HBV and the associated hepatitis delta virus are etiologic factors in the "hepatitis of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta."
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a Gram-negative bacterium known for causing both intestinal and extraintestinal infections in humans. Among extraintestinal infections, urinary tract infections (UTIs) are particularly prevalent and impactful. In Colombia, limited information is available regarding the molecular epidemiology of E. coli. This lack of data hinders the understanding of the local epidemiological landscape and the identification of pathogenic lineages that may contribute to public health concerns. This study aimed to characterize an E. coli strain isolated from a 24-year-old female patient with a community-acquired lower UTI, focusing on genotypic analysis through whole-genome shotgun sequencing (WGSS) and subsequent bioinformatics investigations. The identified strain belongs to phylogroup F, with serotype O1:H7 and sequence type (ST) 59. Several virulence factors, including traT and afimbrial adhesins (afaC), were identified, with afaC being notably uncommon in ST59 phylogroup F. In addition, an antibiotic susceptibility test was performed, and the isolate was found to be sensitive to all the antibiotics tested. This work contributes to the understanding of E. coli phylogroup F in Colombia and provides valuable genomic data, shedding light on the virulence profile of this strain in lower urinary tract infections.
Tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) is a chronic and slowly progressive endemic myelopathy occurring in geographical isolates in the Caribbean, South India, South Africa, the Seychelles, and Colombia. A detailed clinical and laboratory study was performed on 50 TSP patients from the island of Tumaco (Colombia), in a tropical rain forest area. Most patients were middle-aged blacks, 29 (58%) men and 21 women. In every case, neurological examination confirmed the presence of pyramidal signs in the lower limbs, plus, in 58%, moderate decrease in vibratory perception distally in the feet, bilaterally and symmetrically. Absent ankle jerks were found in 28%. Slow onset and chronic progression were documented in most patients. Positive treponemal serology, from yaws infection in childhood, was found in the serum in 92%, and in 19% also in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). No pleocytosis was documented on 27 CSF samples, but increased protein content occurred in 86%, with elevation of gamma-globulins in 78%. Treatment of 20 patients with high doses of penicillin produced no change in the clinical picture. TSP emerges from this review of the literature as a remarkably homogeneous clinical entity worldwide. A retrovirus-human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)--has been recently implicated as a possible etiology of the syndrome.
Sera of negroes of African origin and of indians, living in a malaria endemic village on the Pacific Coast of Colombia, were analyzed to see if they could block intraerythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum growth in vitro. A group of mestizos from a malaria-free city in Colombia was used as a negative control. Blood of each individual was studied for the presence of circulating parasites by thick and thin smears and their sera for antimalarial antibodies by IFAT and IRMA techniques. The inhibition of the intraerythrocytic growth induced by these sera was assessed by [3H]Hypoxanthine incorporation. All groups showed inhibitory activity independent of their exposure to malaria. Negro sera had the highest inhibitory activity even following the removal of antibody, and also the highest antimalarial antibody titers. The group of indians had reduced inhibitory activity and lower antibody titers compared to the negro sera. In the group of mestizos, who reported no malaria exposure, 14% had antibodies to asexual blood forms of P. falciparum and 60% induced significant inhibition.