Association Between Uropathogenic Virulence Genes and Severity of Infection and Resistance to Antibiotics.

Purpose: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most frequent bacterial infection. Some uropathogenic (UPEC) genes have been associated with disease severity and antibiotic resistance. The aim was to determine the association of nine UPEC virulence genes with UTI severity and antibiotic resistance of strains collected from adults with community-acquired UTI.

Immunomodulation and Antioxidant Activities as Possible Trypanocidal and Cardioprotective Mechanisms of Major Terpenes from Essential Oils in an Experimental Model of Chronic Chagas Disease.

In the late phase of infection, parasite persistence and an exaggerated immune response accompanied by oxidative stress play a crucial role in the genesis of Chronic Chagasic Cardiomyopathy (CCC). Current treatments (Benznidazole (BNZ) and Nifurtimox) can effect only the elimination of the parasite, but are ineffective for late stage treatment and for preventing heart damage and disease progression. In vivo trypanocidal and cardioprotective activity has been reported for essential oils (EOs), ascribed to their two major terpenes, limonene and caryophyllene oxide.

Circulating Trypanosoma cruzi load and major cardiovascular outcomes in patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy: a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: To analyse the effect of parasite load assessed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) in serum on the prognosis of patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCM) after a 2-year follow-up.

Methods: Prospective cohort study conducted between 2015 and 2017. One hundred patients with CCM were included.

Acute Chagas outbreaks: molecular and biological features of Trypanosoma cruzi isolates, and clinical aspects of acute cases in Santander, Colombia.

Background: Outbreaks of acute Chagas disease associated with oral transmission are easily detected nowadays with trained health personnel in areas of low endemicity, or in which the vector transmission has been interrupted. Given the biological and genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi, the high morbidity, mortality, and the observed therapeutic failure, new characteristics of these outbreaks need to be addressed at different levels, both in Trypanosoma cruzi as in patient response. The aim of this work was to evaluate the patient's features involved in six outbreaks of acute Chagas disease which occurred in Santander, Colombia, and the characteristics of Trypanosoma cruzi clones isolated from these patients, to establish the potential relationship between the etiologic agent features with host behavior.

Chagasic megacolon associated with Trypanosoma cruzi I in a Colombian patient.

Chagasic megacolon has been reported in the southern cone countries of South America and is mainly associated with Trypanosoma cruzi II infection. Herein, we report the first case in Colombia of chagasic megacolon with cardiomyopathy associated with the T. cruzi I lineage.