RESUMEN
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.
Asunto(s)
Brotes de Enfermedades , Hepatitis D/epidemiología , Virus de la Hepatitis Delta/inmunología , Fallo Hepático/epidemiología , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Preescolar , Ecuador/epidemiología , Etnicidad/estadística & datos numéricos , Femenino , Anticuerpos Antihepatitis/sangre , Antígenos de Superficie de la Hepatitis B/sangre , Hepatitis D/complicaciones , Virus de la Hepatitis Delta/genética , Humanos , Lactante , Fallo Hepático/etiología , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , ARN Viral/sangreRESUMEN
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.