Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospitalized patients from the Bolivian Chaco.

Objectives: Information is lacking on the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clonal lineages circulating in Bolivia. We investigated the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of S. aureus colonization in hospitalized patients from the Bolivian Chaco, and compared their features with those of the few clinical isolates available from that setting.

Low prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage in urban and rural community settings in Bolivia and Peru.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nasal carriage in rural and urban community settings of Bolivia and Peru.

Methods: MRSA nasal carriage was investigated in 585 individuals living in rural and urban areas of Bolivia and Peru (one urban area, one small rural village, and two native communities, one of which was highly isolated). MRSA isolates were subjected to molecular analysis for the detection of virulence genes, characterization of the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec), and genotyping (multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)).

Quinolone resistance in absence of selective pressure: the experience of a very remote community in the Amazon forest.

Background: Quinolones are potent broad-spectrum bactericidal agents increasingly employed also in resource-limited countries. Resistance to quinolones is an increasing problem, known to be strongly associated with quinolone exposure. We report on the emergence of quinolone resistance in a very remote community in the Amazon forest, where quinolones have never been used and quinolone resistance was absent in 2002.

Epilepsy-associated stigma in Bolivia: a community-based study among the Guarani population: an International League Against Epilepsy/International Bureau for Epilepsy/World Health Organization Global Campaign Against Epilepsy Regional Project.

Epilepsy is associated with a significant burden of social stigma that appears to be influenced by psychosocial and cultural factors. Stigma has a negative effect on the management of people with epilepsy (PWE), representing one of the major factors that contribute to the burden of epilepsy. To assess stigma perception among the Guarani population, one hundred thirty-two people living in Guaraní communities in Bolivia were invited to complete the Stigma Scale of Epilepsy questionnaire.

Sociocultural dimension of epilepsy: an anthropological study among Guaraní communities in Bolivia--an International League Against Epilepsy/International Bureau for Epilepsy/World Health Organization Global Campaign against Epilepsy regional project.

This study was performed to analyze sociocultural beliefs about epilepsy among Guaraní communities in Bolivia. People with epilepsy, their family members, the general population, and local health care personnel were interviewed about the meaning of and beliefs, feelings, and practices concerning epilepsy. Epilepsy is called mano-mano, a term that means being in a constant passage between life and death.