RESUMO
Antibody prevalence to Toxoplasma gondii among residents of a Pacific coastal region of Oaxaca State, Mexico is among low rates reported worldwide. From 60 small, rural communities, 3229 persons from ages 6 months to over 70 years provided blood specimens that were stored on filter papers. 124 (3.8%) of the eluates were seropositive (positive titer greater than 1:256) in the indirect hemagglutination test, and 43 (1.3%) had titers greater than 1:1024. Seropositive rates increased by age group and females were positive twice as often as males. There was no difference in rates for persons who lived at sea level, compared to those who lived between 600 and 1800 meters. In two small communities in which the number of persons tested were a large percentage of the total population, seropositive rates were 1.0 and 1.9%, respectively. The probable explanation for these low rates is the near absence of cats and paucity of meat in the diet. By contrast, sera tested from 479 persons living about 150 km to the east in the coastal, urban towns of Tehuantepec of Salina Cruz showed positive reactions among 122 (125.5%), and 71 (14.8%) had titers less than 1:1024. These people had a higher standard of living, more meat in their diet, and a few cats.
Assuntos
Anticorpos Antiprotozoários/sangue , Toxoplasma/imunologia , Toxoplasmose/epidemiologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Altitude , Animais , Gatos , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Etnicidade , Feminino , Inquéritos Epidemiológicos , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , México/epidemiologia , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Prevalência , Toxoplasmose/sangue , Toxoplasmose/imunologiaAssuntos
Doença de Chagas/diagnóstico , Humanos , Panamá , Testes Sorológicos , América do Sul , Estados UnidosRESUMO
The prevalences of intestinal parasites among the residents of three South American Indian villages in the process of acculturation were compared with those found in earlier unpublished surveys in two newly contracted village.s Although one individual in an acculturating village harbored 11 different intestinal parasites, in general the average number of different parasitic species carried per person was somewhat higher in the newly contacted villages. Helminth egg counts, performed on direct smears of each specimen from one newly contacted village, were low. There were no sex-associated differences in prevalences. The overall prevalences, unadjusted for age, were among the highest recorded for Amerindians. No Taenia species were present. Balantidium coli was present in two acculturating villages, concomitant with the beginning of agricultural practices which include raising swine. No cases of moderate or severe protein-calorie malnutrition was observed in any of the villages during the surveys. These limited data provide a baseline for future comparisons and, perhaps, a glimpse into the past.
Assuntos
Aculturação , Indígenas Sul-Americanos , Enteropatias Parasitárias/epidemiologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Humanos , Lactente , Enteropatias Parasitárias/parasitologia , América do Sul , Especificidade da EspécieAssuntos
Doença de Chagas/epidemiologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Humanos , Lactente , Masculino , México , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeRESUMO
Ten cases of echinococcosis diagnosed in American Indians in Arizona and New Mexico between 1972 and 1975 were investigated as part of a regional epidemiologic study. Patients were visited at home to discover factors associated with local parasite transmission, to detect possible additional cases among family members, and to perform diagnostic tests on dogs. Six patients were Navajo, 2 Zuni, and 2 Santo Domingo Indians. An additional case in a Navajo man was detected by serologic testing of patients' family members; this was the 20th case diagnosed in the region since 1965. Dogs owned by three of the Navajo patients were infected with Echinococcus granulosus. Arecoline-purge testing of 110 dogs in the Zuni pueblo demonstrated echinococcosis in a single stray dog. The findings at slaughter of Navajo-owned sheep indicate that the infection is enzootic in this intermediate host. The epidemiologic findings suggest that humans were infected from dogs which contracted their infections from two sources. The first was sheep raised locally in rural areas of the Navajo Reservation where the infection is enzootic in the dog-sheep cycle; transmission was apparently facilitated by the widespread practice of home butchering. A second source of human infection was dogs which became infected by eating viscera of sheep of off-reservation origin; these sheep were purchased and butchered by individual families in urban areas of the Navajo Reservation and in the Zuni and Santo Domingo pueblos.
Assuntos
Equinococose/epidemiologia , Indígenas Norte-Americanos , Animais , Arizona , Doenças do Cão/transmissão , Cães , Equinococose/transmissão , Equinococose/veterinária , Echinococcus , Seguimentos , Humanos , New Mexico , Ovinos , Doenças dos Ovinos/transmissãoRESUMO
Antigen suspensions of enzyme-treated, formalin-fixed promastigotes of three species of Leishmania (L. donovani, L. tropica, and L. braziliensis) were evaluated by using the direct agglutination test with serum samples from healthy individuals and patients with confirmed cases of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis. High cross-reactivity was obtained with the three antigens in tests with leishmania sera. Sera from patients with kala-azar were 61% to 96% positive when tested with all three antigens. In tests with sera from patients with American cutaneous leishmaniasis, 81% were positive with L. donovania and L. braziliensis antigen, whereas only 54% to 55% were positive with the other two antigens. Normal sera were reactive at low dilutions of 1:16 or less with L. braziliensis antigens. Normal sera tested with L. tropica antigen reacted to a titer of 128.