Environmental Exposures Associated with Enteropathogen Infection in Six-Month-Old Children Enrolled in the ECoMiD Cohort along a Rural-Urban Gradient in Northern Ecuador†.

Enteropathogens are major contributors to mortality and morbidity, particularly in settings with limited access to water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure. To assess transmission pathways associated with enteropathogen infection, we measured household environmental conditions and assayed 22 enteropathogens using TaqMan Array Cards in stool samples from 276 six-month-old children living in communities along a rural-urban gradient in Northern Ecuador. We utilized multivariable models, risk factor importance, and distance-based statistical methods to test factors associated with infection.

Diversity and Prevalence of Helminths and Protozoa Among Pregnant Women in Tropical Ecuador: Implications for Chemotherapy.

Deworming for pregnant women using a single dose of albendazole or mebendazole is recommended by the WHO in areas where the baseline prevalence of hookworm and/or trichuriasis is >20%. However, other helminths and protozoa infecting pregnant women are not affected by these drugs and dosages. To assess the prevalence and diversity of intestinal helminth and protozoan infections, we analyzed stool samples from pregnant women recently enrolled into a birth cohort, along a rural-urban gradient in northern coastal Ecuador from 2019 to 2022.

Amphimeriasis in Ecuador-Prevalence, Knowledge, and Socio-Cultural Practices Among Indigenous Chachi and Montubios Populations: A Mixed-Methods Cross-Sectional Study.

, a liver fluke, is the causative agent of amphimeriasis, a foodborne disease acquired thought the consumption of infected raw or undercooked river fish-a practice embedded in traditional culinary customs. Amphimeriasis represents a significant public health issue and has been endemic in Ecuador since 2011, particularly among the Chachi Amerindians and Montubios populations residing in tropical ecoregions. By employing a mixed-methods research design, we conducted a community-based, cross-sectional study.

Anthroponotic and Zoonotic Hookworm DNA in an Indigenous Community in Coastal Ecuador: Potential Cross-Transmission between Dogs and Humans.

Humans can be infected with anthroponotic ( and ) and with zoonotic (, , , and ) hookworms from dogs. Anthroponotic species are usually thought not to infect dogs. We used the internal transcribed spacer-1 (ITS1) gene in a quantitative PCR to detect anthroponotic and zoonotic hookworm species in fecal samples from 54 children and 79 dogs living in an indigenous community in tropical Northwestern Ecuador.

The Impact of Zika Emergence in Remote Communities in Northwestern Ecuador.

The Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic in Latin America (2015-2016) has primarily been studied in urban centers, with less understanding of its impact on smaller rural communities. To address this gap, we analyzed ZIKV seroepidemiology in 6 rural Ecuadorian communities (2018-2019) with varying access to a commercial hub. Seroprevalence ranged from 19% to 54%, measured by nonstructural protein 1 blockade of binding enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Correlates of maternal depression, anxiety and functioning across an urban-rural gradient in northern Ecuador.

Maternal depression remains under characterised in many low- and middle-income countries, especially in rural settings. We aimed to describe maternal depression and anxiety symptoms in rural and urban communities in northern Ecuador and to identify socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with these symptoms. Data from 508 mothers participating in a longitudinal cohort study were included.

Distribution of Escherichia coli Pathotypes along an Urban-Rural Gradient in Ecuador.

Diarrheal diseases are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in low- and middle-income countries. Diarrhea is associated with a wide array of etiological agents including bacterial, viral, and parasitic enteropathogens. Previous studies have captured between- but not within-country heterogeneities in enteropathogen prevalence and severity.

A Qualitative Study of Food Choice in Urban Coastal Esmeraldas, Ecuador.

Background: Constraints on food choice increase risk of malnutrition worldwide. Residents of secondary cities within low- and middle-income countries are a population of particular concern because they often face high rates of food insecurity and multiple nutritional burdens. Within this context, effective and equitable interventions to support healthy diets must be based on an understanding of the lived experience of individuals and their interactions with the food environment.

Characterizing Behaviors Associated with Enteric Pathogen Exposure among Infants in Rural Ecuador through Structured Observations.

The relative importance of environmental pathways that results in enteropathogen transmission may vary by context. However, measurement of contact events between individuals and the environment remains a challenge, especially for infants and young children who may use their mouth and hands to explore their environment. Using a mixed-method approach, we combined 1) semistructured observations to characterize key behaviors associated with enteric pathogen exposure and 2) structured observations using Livetrak, a customized software application, to quantify the frequency and duration of contacts events among infants in rural Ecuador.

Gut microbiome, enteric infections and child growth across a rural-urban gradient: protocol for the ECoMiD prospective cohort study.

Introduction: The functional consequences of the bacterial gut microbiome for child health are not well understood. Characteristics of the early child gut microbiome may influence the course of enteric infections, and enteric infections may change the composition of the gut microbiome, all of which may have long-term implications for child growth and development.

Methods And Analysis: We are conducting a community-based birth cohort study to examine interactions between gut microbiome conditions and enteric infections, and how environmental conditions affect the development of the gut microbiome.

A dengue outbreak in a rural community in Northern Coastal Ecuador: An analysis using unmanned aerial vehicle mapping.

Dengue is recognized as a major health issue in large urban tropical cities but is also observed in rural areas. In these environments, physical characteristics of the landscape and sociodemographic factors may influence vector populations at small geographic scales, while prior immunity to the four dengue virus serotypes affects incidence. In 2019, a rural northwestern Ecuadorian community, only accessible by river, experienced a dengue outbreak.

Gut Microbiome Changes with Acute Diarrheal Disease in Urban Versus Rural Settings in Northern Ecuador.

Previous studies have reported lower fecal bacterial diversity in urban populations compared with those living in rural settings. However, most of these studies compare geographically distant populations from different countries and even continents. The extent of differences in the gut microbiome in adjacent rural versus urban populations, and the role of such differences, if any, during enteric infections remain poorly understood.

Multiple burdens of malnutrition and relative remoteness in rural Ecuadorian communities.

Objective: Social and economic changes associated with new roads can bring about rapid nutritional transitions. To study this process, we: (1) describe trends in adult overweight and obesity (OW/OB) among rural Afro-Ecuadorians over time and across a gradient of community remoteness from the nearest commercial centre; (2) examine the relationship between male and female adult OW/OB and factors associated with market integration such as changing livelihoods and (3) examine the co-occurrence of adult OW/OB and under-five stunting and anaemia.

Design: Adult anthropometry was collected through serial case-control studies repeated over a decade across twenty-eight communities.

Liver fluke infections by Amphimerus sp. (Digenea: Opisthorchiidae) in definitive and fish intermediate hosts in Manabí province, Ecuador.

Amphimerus sp. is a fluke that dwells in the biliary tracts of vertebrate definitive hosts including humans, domestic, and wild mammals in Latin America. Opisthorchiid liver infections are rarely studied in the Americas confirming its status as a neglected tropical disease.

Prevalence of Fasciola hepatica infection in Galba cousini and Galba schirazensis from an Andean region of Ecuador.

Some Lymnaeid snails are intermediate hosts of the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica, the causal agent of fasciolosis, a zoonotic parasitic disease. Human and livestock fasciolosis has been reported in a highland community located in the Chimborazo Province of the Ecuadorian Andes. However, no previous study has been carried out to identify which snail species act as intermediate host/s of F.

Fatal acute Chagas disease by Trypanosoma cruzi DTU TcI, Ecuador.

Background: Chagas disease is caused by the haemoflagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. Currently, T. cruzi recognizes seven discrete typing units (DTUs): TcI to TcVI and Tcbat.

Mapping the Prevalence of Infection in Ecuador: A Serosurvey.

Data on the prevalence of strongyloidiasis in Ecuador are patchy. The aim of this study was to document the presence of infection in rural communities of different provinces of Ecuador. We tested 1,418 serum samples stored at the biobank of the Central University of Ecuador, Quito, with an ELISA test for .

Household coping strategies associated with unreliable water supplies and diarrhea in Ecuador, an upper-middle-income country.

The Sustainable Development Goals recognize that the availability and quality of improved water sources affect how households use and benefit from these sources. Although unreliability in piped water supplies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been described, few studies have assessed household coping strategies in response to unreliable water supplies and associated health outcomes. We characterized unreliability in the piped water supply of the town of Borbón, Ecuador over the twelve years following a major upgrade, as well as household coping strategies and associations with diarrhea.

Metagenomic Signatures of Gut Infections Caused by Different Pathotypes.

is a leading contributor to infectious diarrhea and child mortality worldwide, but it remains unknown how alterations in the gut microbiome vary for distinct pathotype infections and whether these signatures can be used for diagnostic purposes. Further, the majority of enteric diarrheal infections are not diagnosed with respect to their etiological agent(s) due to technical challenges. To address these issues, we devised a novel approach that combined traditional, isolate-based and molecular-biology techniques with metagenomics analysis of stool samples and epidemiological data.

Characterization of the mitochondrial genome sequences of the liver fluke Amphimerus sp. (Trematoda: Opisthorchiidae) from Ecuador and phylogenetic implications.

Amphimerus Barker, 1911 is a liver fluke infecting several animal species and humans. Being a digenetic trematode of the Opisthorchiidae family, Amphimerus is closely related to the genera Metorchis, Clonorchis and Opisthorchis. Recently, a high prevalence of Amphimerus infection in humans, cats, and dogs had been demonstrated in a tropical Pacific region of Ecuador.

Locals get travellers' diarrhoea too: risk factors for diarrhoeal illness and pathogenic Escherichia coli infection across an urban-rural gradient in Ecuador.

Objectives: Diarrhoea is a common and well-studied cause of illness afflicting international travellers. However, traveller's diarrhoea can also result from travel between high and low disease transmission regions within a country, which is the focus of this study.

Methods: We recruited participants for a case-control study of diarrhoea at four sites along an urban-rural gradient in Northern Ecuador: Quito, Esmeraldas, Borbón and rural communities outside of Borbón.

A comparison of Kato-Katz technique to three other methods for diagnosis of Amphimerus spp. liver fluke infection and the prevalence of infection in Chachi Amerindians of Ecuador.

Background: Recently, a high prevalence of infection by the liver fluke Amphimerus spp. has been documented in the Chachi Amerindians of Ecuador. For diagnosis, no studies exist that compare the sensitivity of different coproparasitological detection techniques.

Diagnosis of amphimeriasis by LAMPhimerus assay in human stool samples long-term storage onto filter paper.

Amphimeriasis, a fish-borne zoonotic disease caused by the liver fluke Amphimerus spp., has recently been reported as an emerging disease affecting an indigenous Ameridian group, the Chachi, living in Ecuador. The only method for diagnosing amphimeriasis was the microscopic detection of eggs from the parasite in patients' stool samples with very low sensitivity.

Trends of child undernutrition in rural Ecuadorian communities with differential access to roads, 2004-2013.

Road access can influence protective and risk factors associated with nutrition by affecting various social and biological processes. In northern coastal Ecuador, the construction of new roads created a remoteness gradient among villages, providing a unique opportunity to examine the impact of roads on child nutritional outcomes 10 years after the road was built. Anthropometric and haemoglobin measurements were collected from 2,350 children <5 years in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, from 2004 to 2013 across 28 villages with differing road access.