Multiplex PCR detection of enteric pathogens in a community-based birth cohort in Ecuador: comparison of xTAG-GPP and TaqMan array card assays.

We compared the performance of two multiplex platforms, Luminex xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen PanelⓇ and TaqMan Array Card, against a panel of 14 enteric pathogen targets in a community-based birth cohort in Ecuador. We found high levels of agreement and similar prevalence estimates across most pathogens.

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.

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.

I get height with a little help from my friends: herd protection from sanitation on child growth in rural Ecuador.

Background: Infectious disease interventions, such as vaccines and bed nets, have the potential to provide herd protection to non-recipients. Similarly, improved sanitation in one household may provide community-wide benefits if it reduces contamination in the shared environment. Sanitation at the household level is an important predictor of child growth, but less is known about the effect of sanitation coverage in the community.

The dynamics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus exposure in a hospital model and the potential for environmental intervention.

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of healthcare-associated infections. An important control strategy is hand hygiene; however, non-compliance has been a major problem in healthcare settings. Furthermore, modeling studies have suggested that the law of diminishing return applies to hand hygiene.