International programs and veterinary public health in the Americas--success, challenges, and possibilities.

The veterinary public health (VPH) program at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) began in 1949 when an arrangement with the newly founded World Health Organization made PAHO its Regional Office for the Americas to serve as the specialized health agency both for the Organization of American States and the United Nations. It started as a Section of Veterinary Medicine to help eradicate rabies on both sides of the US-Mexico border, and PAHO grew to be the biggest VPH program in the world. By providing a political and technical base, PAHO assisted its member states to organize and develop their national VPH programs and activities, and it provides technical cooperation and works with their national counterparts to solve national and local problems.

Public health importance of cystic echinococcosis in Latin America.

Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by larval Echinococcus granulosus is a zoonosis of major public health importance throughout Latin America. The Andean and South Cone regions have been recognized as endemic areas of cystic echinococcosis. This paper reviews prevalence in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil and Peru.

[Risk of transmission of cholera by fish products: regional perspective in South America].

Cholera returned to South America in January 1991, after almost a century of absence. The hygienic status of the countries affected, aggravated by economic and political difficulties, allowed the disease to spread rapidly. In Peru, fishery products were incriminated from the outset, although without conclusive evidence.