Knowledge, stigma, and quality of life in epilepsy: Results before and after a community-based epilepsy awareness program in rural Bolivia.

Introduction: Epilepsy represents around 0.7% of the overall global burden of diseases and is particularly prevalent and associated with significant disability in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) in Latin American Countries (LAC). A community-based epilepsy awareness program was carried out by our group in the rural areas of the Chaco region, Plurinational state of Bolivia, to improve the knowledge about epilepsy, with a first part directed toward general practitioners and a second part toward nurses and community health workers (CHWs) of the rural communities with a positive outcome.

Treating People With Epilepsy in Rural Low-Income Countries Is Feasible. Observations and Reflections From a "Real Life Experience" After a Long Lasting Intervention in the Rural Chaco.

Epilepsy represents an important public health issue, in particular in low and middle-income countries where significant disparities are present in the care available for patients with epilepsy. Treatment cost and unavailability of drugs represent important barriers in treating people with epilepsy especially in rural setting. Aim of the study was to evaluate, by means of routine data, the current real-life clinical practice in epilepsy in the rural communities of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis A Virus, Hepatitis E Virus, and in Rural Communities of the Bolivian Chaco, 2013.

In the Bolivian Chaco, south-east of Bolivia, studies conducted over the past three decades reported hepatitis A virus (HAV) and seroprevalences above 90% and 60%, respectively. Hepatitis E virus (HEV) prevalence was previously found to be 6-7% but is probably an underestimate because of the poor sensitivity of the assays used. In November 2013, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 263 healthy volunteers from two rural communities of the Bolivian Chaco, aiming to reassess HAV, HEV, and seroprevalence 10-20 years following the previous surveys.

Seroepidemiological trend of strongyloidiasis in the Bolivian Chaco (1987-2013) in the absence of disease-specific control measures.

Objectives: The prevalence of Strongyloides stercoralis infections is grossly underestimated because infections go mostly undetected, although they can persist for a lifetime due to the auto-infective cycle. In the Bolivian Chaco, the prevalence of soil-transmitted nematodes dropped dramatically in the past 25 years, but the mebendazole used for preventive chemotherapy has no effect on S. stercoralis.