Performance of the VITEK® MS system for the identification of filamentous fungi in a microbiological laboratory in Chile.

Filamentous fungi are an emergent cause of severe infections in immunocompromised patients. Timely and accurate identification is crucial to initiate appropriate therapy. Traditional identification methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and operator-dependent.

Hosts and vectors of scrub typhus in Chile: epidemiological study and molecular analyses of Orientia infection in rodents and rodent-associated mites.

Candidatus Orientia chiloensis causes scrub typhus over a wide geographical range in southern Chile. The life cycle, including vectors and reservoirs of this novel rickettsial pathogen, is incompletely understood. We analyzed rodent tissue and rodent-associated mite samples collected during a field study in six localities on Chiloé Island, where human scrub typhus cases have occurred.

Effect of textile colour on vector mosquito host selection: a simulated field study in Mali, West Africa.

Background: The effect of clothing colour on the biting rates of different vector mosquito species is not well understood. Studies under tropical field conditions are lacking. This study aimed to determine the influence of clothing colours on mosquito biting rates in rural and suburban settings in West Africa.

Intestinal protozoa in returning travellers: a GeoSentinel analysis from 2007 to 2019.

Background: Prolonged diarrhoea is common amongst returning travellers and is often caused by intestinal protozoa. However, the epidemiology of travel-associated illness caused by protozoal pathogens is not well described.

Methods: We analysed records of returning international travellers with illness caused by Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium spp.

Head-to-head comparison of CAMPYAIR aerobic culture medium versus standard microaerophilic culture for isolation from clinical samples.

spp. are considered the most frequent cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide. However, outside high-income countries, its burden is poorly understood.

spp. Prevalence in Santiago, Chile: A Study Based on Molecular Detection in Clinical Stool Samples from 2014 to 2019.

spp. is an emerging cause of infectious diarrhea worldwide. In South American countries such as Chile, its prevalence is underestimated due to inadequate detection methods.

Eco-epidemiology of rodent-associated trombiculid mites and infection with Orientia spp. in Southern Chile.

Background: Scrub typhus is a potentially severe infection caused by bacteria of the genus Orientia, endemic in Asia-Pacific and recently discovered in southern Chile. The presented study aimed to determine the prevalence and species richness of rodent-associated trombiculid mites and their infection with Orientia spp. in different areas of two regions in southern Chile.

Development of a New Genus-Specific Quantitative Real-Time PCR Assay for the Diagnosis of Scrub Typhus in South America.

Scrub typhus is a potentially severe rickettsiosis, caused by in the Asia-Pacific region. Recently, however, two distinct pathogens, " Orientia chuto" and " Orientia chiloensis", have been discovered in the Middle East and South America, respectively. Since the novel pathogens differ significantly from , many established diagnostic methods are unreliable.

EARL compliance measurements on the biograph vision Quadra PET/CT system with a long axial field of view.

Background: Our aim was to determine sets of reconstruction parameters for the Biograph Vision Quadra (Siemens Healthineers) PET/CT system that result in quantitative images compliant with the European Association of Nuclear Medicine Research Ltd. (EARL) criteria. Using the Biograph Vision 600 (Siemens Healthineers) PET/CT technology but extending the axial field of view to 106 cm, gives the Vision Quadra currently an around fivefold higher sensitivity over the Vision 600 with otherwise comparable spatial resolution.

Novel Vector of Scrub Typhus in Sub-Antarctic Chile: Evidence From Human Exposure.

The exposure of a research team to chigger mites in southern Chile allowed the first identification of a trombiculid species as vector and reservoir of scrub typhus outside the tsutsugamushi triangle, providing unique insights into the ecology and transmission of this recently discovered rickettsial infection in South America.

Rebuilding to shape a better future: the role of young professionals in the public health workforce.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the extreme needs of the public health workforce. As societies discuss how to build up the capacity and infrastructure of their systems, it is crucial that young professionals are involved. Previous attempts to incorporate young professionals into the public health workforce have wrestled with inaccessibility, tokenisation, and a lack of mentorship, leading to a loss of potential workforce members and a non-representative workforce that reinforces systemic societal exclusion of diverse young people.

Mutation in a SARS-CoV-2 Haplotype from Sub-Antarctic Chile Reveals New Insights into the Spike's Dynamics.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, as observed with the D614G spike protein mutant and, more recently, with B.1.1.

Longitudinal assessment of SARS-CoV-2 IgG seroconversionamong front-line healthcare workers during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic at a tertiary-care hospital in Chile.

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Cross-sectional studies have provided variable rates of seroprevalence in HCWs. Longitudinal assessments of the serological response to Covid-19 among HCWs are crucial to understanding the risk of infection and changes in antibody titers over time.

Rickettsial infections: A blind spot in our view of neglected tropical diseases.

Rickettsial diseases are a group of vector-borne bacterial infections that cause acute febrile illness with potentially severe or fatal complications. These vector-borne diseases are prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide and disproportionately affect poorer communities but are scientifically underrecognized. Despite this, they are not included in the World Health Organization's list of neglected tropical diseases nor were they mentioned in Peter Hotez's recent reflections on "What constitutes a neglected tropical disease?" in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases [1].

Atovaquone/Proguanil Resistance in an Imported Malaria Case in Chile.

In November 2018, we diagnosed a cluster of falciparum malaria cases in three Chilean travelers returning from Nigeria. Two patients were treated with sequential intravenous artesunate plus oral atovaquone/proguanil (AP) and one with oral AP. The third patient, a 23-year-old man, presented with fever on day 29 after oral AP treatment and was diagnosed with recrudescent falciparum malaria.