The first case of human infection with H5N1 avian Influenza A virus in Chile.

Highlights: Here we present the first human case of Influenza A H5N1 infection in Chile, and the fifth worldwide in 2023. The patient is a 53-year-old man who lives in the north region of Chile, near the seashore. The Chilean sample was subtyped in the clade 2.

Quantitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal samples from infected patients with mild disease.

Diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) cases is based on the count of real-time reverse transcription-plymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive people. Viral load by real-time RT-PCR has been suggested as a biomarker of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the association of viral load and severity of the disease is not yet resolved.

Geographical Distribution of Genetic Variants and Lineages of SARS-CoV-2 in Chile.

The pandemic caused by the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a worldwide public health concern. First confined in China and then disseminated widely across Europe and America, SARS-CoV-2 has impacted and moved the scientific community around the world to working in a fast and coordinated way to collect all possible information about this virus and generate new strategies and protocols to try to stop the infection. During March 2020, more than 16,000 full viral genomes have been shared in public databases that allow the construction of genetic landscapes for tracking and monitoring the viral advances over time and study the genomic variations present in geographic regions.

Phylogenetic analysis of the first four SARS-CoV-2 cases in Chile.

The current pandemic caused by the new coronavirus is a worldwide public health concern. To aboard this emergency, and like never before, scientific groups around the world have been working in a fast and coordinated way to get the maximum of information about this virus when it has been almost 3 months since the first cases were detected in Wuhan province in China. The complete genome sequences of around 450 isolates are available, and studies about similarities and differences among them and with the close related viruses that caused similar epidemics in this century.

Host characteristics predict outcome among adult patients admitted by severe acute respiratory infection.

Background: Except for influenza pandemics, different observational studies have failed to demonstrate differences in mortality between various etiologies in adult patients hospitalized for respiratory infections.

Aim: To compare clinical and mortality differences between different viral pathogens associated with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in hospitalized adults.

Material And Methods: One-year prospective study in a sentinel center.

Distribution of influenza virus types by age using case-based global surveillance data from twenty-nine countries, 1999-2014.

Background: Influenza disease burden varies by age and this has important public health implications. We compared the proportional distribution of different influenza virus types within age strata using surveillance data from twenty-nine countries during 1999-2014 (N=358,796 influenza cases).

Methods: For each virus, we calculated a Relative Illness Ratio (defined as the ratio of the percentage of cases in an age group to the percentage of the country population in the same age group) for young children (0-4 years), older children (5-17 years), young adults (18-39 years), older adults (40-64 years), and the elderly (65+ years).

[Acute glomerulonephritis with hemodialysis requirement secondary to influenza A H1N1pdm09 infection: Report of two cases].

Acute renal failure (ARF) requiring hemodialysis is not common among patients affected by influenza. We report two unvaccinated adult patients with smoking habit, which were admitted with severe influenza A H1N1pdm09 that evolved with shock and required mechanical ventilation. Both patients developed progressive renal failure with oliguria/anuria, associated with urinary of inflammatory sediment with proteinuria, microhematuria and in one case also with hypocomplementemia, suggesting acute glomerulonephritis.

Temporal Patterns of Influenza A and B in Tropical and Temperate Countries: What Are the Lessons for Influenza Vaccination?

Introduction: Determining the optimal time to vaccinate is important for influenza vaccination programmes. Here, we assessed the temporal characteristics of influenza epidemics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres and in the tropics, and discuss their implications for vaccination programmes.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of surveillance data between 2000 and 2014 from the Global Influenza B Study database.

Clinical relevance of rhinovirus infections among adult hospitalized patients.

Unlabelled: Human rhinovirus (HRV) is an emerging viral pathogen.

Aim: To characterize a group of patients admitted due to infection by this agent in a general hospital in Chile.

Methods: Cases were identified by RT-PCR for 1 year through active surveillance of patients admitted with severe respiratory illness.

[Genetic characterization of the virus causing H1N1 influenza pandemic in Chile: analysis of the first detected cases].

Background: Following the announcement of the Influenza A(H1N1) pandemic by the World Health Organization in April 2009, a surveillance program was carried out in Chile to detect the introduction of the virus in the country and to monitor its propagation and impact.

Aim: To describe the onset of the outbreak and the genetic characterization of the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in the first detected cases in Chile.

Material And Methods: Analysis of18 clinical samples coming from suspicious patients, received in a National Reference Laboratory.

Rubella outbreaks following virus importations: the experience of Chile.

Background: Strategies for accelerated control of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in Chile included mass vaccination of women of childbearing age in 1999 but did not include vaccination of adult men.

Methods: We reviewed data from Chile's integrated surveillance system for measles, rubella, and CRS from 2004 through 2009 and describe the epidemiology of rubella outbreaks and implementation of control measures in 2005 and 2007 following mass vaccination of women. Population estimates from census data were used to calculate rubella incidence rates.

[Clinical study of measure of parasitemia in patients infected with Trypanosoma cruzi in Atacama, Chile].

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi infection is endemic in Northern/Central Chile.

Aim: To perform a clinical assessment of patients infected with Trypanosoma cruzi.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred sixty three subjects with a positive serology for Trypanosoma cruzi, were invited by mail to a clinical assessment in a Regional Hospital.