Surveillance for Leishmania asymptomatic infection in endemic foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Venezuela: a combination of leishmanin skin test and PCR using blood clots improves detection and enables identification of species.

Background: Little is known about the prevalence of asymptomatic leishmaniasis in Venezuela. The objective of this study was to quantify Leishmania asymptomatic infection in six endemic foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Portuguesa State, Venezuela, where no previous data were available.

Methods: Study of the prevalence of Leishmania asymptomatic infection was carried out in 841 individuals from six endemic foci of CL in the municipalities Sucre and Ospino, Portuguesa State.

Seasonal changes of the diurnal variation of precipitation in the upper Río Chagres basin, Panamá.

This study elucidated the characteristics of climatological seasonal changes in the diurnal variations of precipitation at four ground stations in the upper Río Chagres basin in the Panama Canal watershed. The seasonal changes differed among the stations, although they are located within an area of only 414 km2. Precipitation peaks in the early afternoon at 1500 local standard time (LST) were observed at all the stations.

Molecular typing reveals the co-existence of two transmission cycles of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Andean Region of Venezuela with Lutzomyia migonei as the vector.

BACKGROUND The transmission routes for American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) are in flux, so studies examining its transmission in humans, mammalian hosts, and sand fly vectors are urgently needed. OBJECTIVES The aim of this work was understand the epidemiological cycles of Leishmania spp., which causes ACL in the Andean Region of Venezuela, by identifying the Leishmania and the sand fly species involved in human and dog infections.

Isolation and molecular identification of Leishmania chagasi from a bat (Carollia perspicillata) in northeastern Venezuela.

This report describes the isolation of a Leishmania chagasi strain from a bat (Carollia perspicillata), and its identification using biological methods and molecular characterization. The parasites were isolated in an artificial culture medium from a blood sample extracted from a bat heart. The isolate was then inoculated into the footpads of Balb/c mice, which subsequently developed a typical nodular leishmanial lesion; the parasites were confirmed as Leishmania by smear and histopathology.

[Trypanosomatidae of public health importance occurring in wild and synanthropic animals of rural Venezuela].

Introduction: Chagas disease and leishmaniasis are important public health problems due to their high frequency and broad distribution in Latin America. Understanding of the roles of reservoir animals is crucial for a global assessment of the epidemiology of these diseases.

Objective: To identify parasites classed as Trypanosomatidae as they occurred in sylvatic animals, and to establish rates of coinfection.

Molecular epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Venezuela.

This paper discusses the utility of a set of primers (3J1, 3J2) designed from a repetitive nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid sequence for the diagnosis of Leishmania braziliensis infection in samples obtained from humans, insect vectors and mammalian reservoir hosts from different endemic areas in Venezuela. A high incidence of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis infection was found in the endemic areas studied. The sensitivity and specificity of the primers used were adequate for the identification of the natural vectors and reservoir hosts of L.

Cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) and black rats (Rattus rattus) as possible reservoirs of Leishmania spp. in Lara State, Venezuela.

A total of 519 wild animals belonging to eleven species were collected during a two year study in a cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic area in Venezuela (La Matica, Lara State). The animals were captured in home-made Tomahawk-like traps baited with maize, bananas or other available local fruits, and parasites were isolated from 27 specimens. Two different species were found naturally infected with flagellates, i.