Effect of an ecosystem-centered community participation programme on the incidence of dengue. A field randomized, controlled trial.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of a community participation programme based on the ecosystem model on the incidence of dengue in urban communities.

Methods: A randomized controlled field trial was conducted in the state of Colima, Mexico. The intervention consisted of a community participation programme focused on the ecosystem; simultaneously, the control groups were communities that only received the usual official prevention programs.

Cost-Effectiveness of the Strategies to Reduce the Incidence of Dengue in Colima, México.

Dengue fever is considered to be one of the most important arboviral diseases globally. Unsuccessful vector-control strategies might be due to the lack of sustainable community participation. The state of Colima, located in the Western region of Mexico, is a dengue-endemic area despite vector-control activities implemented, which may be due to an insufficient health economic analysis of these interventions.

Seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi (TC) and risk factors in Colima, Mexico.

Introduction: The present study was conducted to estimate the incidence of seropositivity to anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies and analyze potential risk factors in Colima, on the western coast of Mexico.

Methodology: Longitudinal studies of 209 subjects with negative serology in 1999 for anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies by hemagglutination inhibition test were tested again in 2005. At the same time, 716 children under six years of age were surveyed serologically (total n = 925); the history of Trypanosoma cruzi infection was determined by the same hemagglutination inhibition test.

Tick paralysis caused by Amblyomma maculatum on the Mexican Pacific Coast.

Tick paralysis is a rare entity in which it is necessary to identify the cause and remove the arthropod to have a rapid remission of symptoms. In the absence of an early diagnosis, the outcome can be fatal, as toxins are released from the tick's saliva as it feeds. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first clinical report of the disease in Mexico and Latin America.