Mother-to-child Chagas disease transmission: The challenge of detection and prevention in areas without the risk of vectorial transmission.

Chagas disease (CD) is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Although it is endemic in many Latin American (LA) countries, mother-to-child transmission has caused it to expand to other countries and continents. In places where vector transmission is controlled or absent, the epidemiological importance of T.

Cerebral echinococcosis: Case report and literature review.

Echinococcosis is a zoonosis caused by the larval form of the cestode Echinococcus granulosus. The cerebral affectation in the human is uncommon; only in 1-2% cases is observed encephalic involvement. This condition occurs mainly in the pediatric population and it is characterized by the presence of single and unilocular cysts.

[New public health challenges in vector management: black flies in Murcia (Spain)].

Historically, no black fly (Diptera: Simuliidae) nuisance has been reported in the Murcia Region. Back in September 2016 the Ojós City Council has contacted the Regional Public Health General Directorate for help regarding a local insect nuisance, most probably based on mosquitoes. After sampling with a BG-sentinel 2 trap, collecting adult specimens with an entomological aspirator, and collect larvae and pupae on submerged giant cane stalks at the river, it turned out that Simulium sergenti was the insect species causing the nuisance.

[ARCHITECT Chagas(®): a new diagnostic tool in Chagas disease].

Objective: To evaluate a new chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (ARCHITECT Chagas(®), Abbott).

Methods: In this study, 165 samples were tested by two different serological tests. The ARCHITECT Chagas(®) assay was performed using ARCHITECT i2000(SR) system (Abbott).

[The journey of Legionella pneumophila from amoebae to macrophage. Reflections on the largest outbreak of legionnaire's disease].

Legionella, the causative agent of legionnaire's disease (LD), can survive and grow in amoebic cells. Free-living amoebae may play a role in the selection of virulence traits and in adaptation to survival in macrophages, and represent an important reservoir of Legionella. These amoebae may act as a Trojan horse bringing hidden bacteria within the human environments.

Antimicrobial chemotherapy for Legionnaires disease: levofloxacin versus macrolides.

Background: The community outbreak of legionnaires disease that occurred in Murcia, Spain, in July 2001--to our knowledge, the largest such outbreak ever reported--afforded an unusual opportunity to compare the clinical response of patients with Legionella pneumonia treated with levofloxacin with that of patients treated with macrolides and to determine the role of rifampicin combined with levofloxacin in treating severe legionellosis.

Methods: An observational, prospective, nonrandomized study was conducted involving 292 patients seen at our hospital (Hospital "J. M.

In vitro activity of older and newer fluoroquinolones against efflux-mediated high-level ciprofloxacin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The effect of high-level efflux activity on the MICs of fluoroquinolones against Streptococcus pneumoniae in the absence of topoisomerase mutations leading to fluoroquinolones resistance was investigated. A S. pneumoniae ATCC 46619-derived strain with high-level efflux activity was obtained (SP-25A).