Molecular and epidemiologic characterization of the diphtheria outbreak in Venezuela.

In 2016, Venezuela faced a large diphtheria outbreak that extended until 2019. Nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal samples were prospectively collected from 51 suspected cases and retrospective data from 348 clinical records was retrieved from 14 hospitals between November 2017 and November 2018. Confirmed pathogenic Corynebactrium isolates were biotyped.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with malaria admitted to a hospital in Mérida, Venezuela.

Background: Malaria is expanding rapidly across Venezuela, spreading outwards from traditional high transmission regions in the southeast of the country, but the lack of official data make it impossible to understand the reasons for this expansion and to estimate its real magnitude. This study aims to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics driving the re-emergence of malaria in Mérida, a state in the west of Venezuela, where no cases have been reported since 2003, and also to study the clinical presentation of the disease in patients presenting with malaria.

Methods: Thirty-three patients who presented with anemia and fever and with a microscopic diagnosis of malaria were examined and interviewed.

A Dengue Vaccine: Will It be Accepted and Is It Feasible? Lessons from Barranquilla, Colombia, and Merida, Venezuela.

With one vaccine on the market and others in clinical trials, policy makers in dengue endemic regions face the decision of whether to introduce a dengue vaccine in their communities. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that individualized assessments be conducted before any vaccine introduction to evaluate disease burden and the strength of current vaccination programs. This study seeks to aid in that decision-making process by examining the acceptability and feasibility of dengue vaccine introduction in Barranquilla, Colombia, and Merida, Venezuela.

Non-host organisms impact transmission at two different life stages in a marine parasite.

The potential for local biodiversity to 'dilute' infection risk has been shown to be particularly important in aquatic trematodes, where non-host organisms can feed on free-living infective stages (cercariae) and reduce transmission rates to target hosts. Non-host organisms could also impact transmission during other stages of the trematode life cycle. In Philophthalmus spp.

Persistent infection with high-risk human papilloma viruses: cohort study, Mérida, Venezuela.

Cervical lesions have been associated with infection by high-risk human papilloma virus (high-risk HPV). In 409 women aged >15 years high-risk HPV lesions were identified. In a cohort of this population persistent infection was compared with cytological, colposcopic, and histological lesions.