Publications by authors named "C M E Romero-Vivas"
Background: To assess whether the 'economic boom' in the tropical seaport city of Barranquilla improved tapped water supplies to socio-economically poor neighbourhoods resulting in: (1) their reduced use for domestic water-storage in large (> 1,000-litre) custom-made cement tanks which are their principal Aedes aegypti breeding sites and (2) their pupae/person index (PPI) values to below their established 0.5-1.5 PPI arbovirus transmission-threshold value, compared to matched neighbourhoods in the: (a) pre-economic boom (2004) period in Barranquilla and (b) economically-neglected seaport city of Buenaventura.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFew studies have investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 infections increase the incidence of dengue haemorrhagic fever/shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) and/or severe dengue (SD) in dengue virus (DENV)-infected patients. This study was performed on a site with high incidences of classical dengue, but relatively few DHF/DSS or SD cases as defined by the WHO 1997 or 2009 criteria, respectively. Clinical, haematological/biochemical, and viral diagnostic data were collected from febrile patients before, during, and after the COVID-19 epidemic to assess whether (a) DENV-infected patients with prior SARS-CoV-2 infections or (b) DENV-SARS-CoV-2-co-infected patients had increased incidences of SD/DHF/DSS using logistic regression and machine learning models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Recent outbreaks of Zika virus (ZIKV) in South and Central America have highlighted significant neurologic side effects. Concurrence with the inflammatory neuropathy Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is observed in 1:4,000 ZIKV cases. Whether the neurologic symptoms of ZIKV infection are immune mediated is unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The Zika virus (ZIKV) has been linked to severe birth defects, primarily traced to the Asian lineage, even though the African lineage shows higher transmissibility and danger in labs.
- Recent experiments with low-passage ZIKV strains reveal that African variants are more easily spread by mosquitoes and are deadlier to both adult and fetal mice than Asian strains.
- The study warns that African ZIKV strains could pose a significant public health risk because they might remain undetected, as they are more likely to cause fetal loss rather than noticeable birth defects.
Article Synopsis
- The factors behind the rise of zoonotic viruses in humans, especially those transmitted by mosquitoes, are still not well understood.
- A specific mosquito species, originally from Africa, has adapted to bite humans and breed in places like water storage, spreading globally over the last 400 years.
- Research indicates that this mosquito's evolution and spread have not only increased encounters with humans but also made it more capable of acquiring and transmitting the Zika virus.