Experiences in the use of multiple doses of convalescent plasma in critically ill patients with COVID-19: An early phase 1 descriptive study.

Background: At the beginning of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, transfusion of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) convalescent plasma (CCP) emerged as a potential therapeutic strategy to help patients severely afflicted by COVID-19. The efficacy of CCP has been controversial as it depends on many variables pertaining to the plasma donor and the patient with COVID-19, for example, time of convalescence or symptoms onset. This feasibility and descriptive study aimed to assess the safety of multiple doses of CCP in mechanically ventilated, intubated patients with respiratory failure due to COVID-19.

Tropical splenomegaly in a migrant-in-transit crossing the Darien gap, Panamá: A probable case of hyper-reactive malarial splenomegaly.

Hyper-reactive malarial splenomegaly (HMS), or tropical splenomegaly syndrome, is a severe complication of chronic and recurrent infections caused by . This condition typically results in splenomegaly greater than or equal to 10 cm and a constellation of laboratory findings, including the absence of identifiable parasites in peripheral blood smears. However, patients with HMS demonstrate serological or molecular evidence of infection.

The Endless Vulnerability of Migrant Children In-Transit across the Darién Gap.

Many people from poverty-stricken countries are migrating across South and Central America to reach the México-United States border, a movement exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Migrant people who begin their northbound journey in South America must transit across a significant geographic bottleneck, the Darién Gap, a mountainous rainforest region between Colombia and Panama. Most migrant people crossing this region originate from Cuba, Haiti, and Venezuela.

Using compartmental models and Particle Swarm Optimization to assess Dengue basic reproduction number for the Republic of Panama in the 1999-2022 period.

Nowadays, the ability to make data-driven decisions in public health is of utmost importance. To achieve this, it is necessary for modelers to comprehend the impact of models on the future state of healthcare systems. Compartmental models are a valuable tool for making informed epidemiological decisions, and the proper parameterization of these models is crucial for analyzing epidemiological events.

U.S. bound journey of migrant peoples InTransit across Dante's Inferno and Purgatory in the Americas.

Rapid rise of population migration is a defining feature of the 21st century due to the impact of climate change, political instability, and socioeconomic downturn. Over the last decade, an increasing number of migrant peoples travel across the Americas to reach the United States seeking asylum or cross the border undocumented in search of economic opportunities. In this journey, migrant people experience violations of their human rights, hunger, illness, violence and have limited access to medical care.

Case Report: First Confirmed Case of Coinfection of SARS-CoV-2 With .

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a major international public health concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on March 11, 2020. In Panama, the first SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed on March 9, 2020, and the first fatal case associated to COVID-19 was reported on March 10.

Assessing the Effect of Climate Variables on the Incidence of Dengue Cases in the Metropolitan Region of Panama City.

The present analysis uses the data of confirmed incidence of dengue cases in the metropolitan region of Panama from 1999 to 2017 and climatic variables (air temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity) during the same period to determine if there exists a correlation between these variables. In addition, we compare the predictive performance of two regression models (SARIMA, SARIMAX) and a recurrent neural network model (RNN-LSTM) on the dengue incidence series. For this data from 1999-2014 was used for training and the three subsequent years of incidence 2015-2017 were used for prediction.

SARS-CoV-2 reinfection with a virus harboring mutation in the Spike and the Nucleocapsid proteins in Panama.

We report a case of reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 with the second virus harboring amino acid changes in the Spike protein (141-143del, D215A, ins215AGY, L452R, D614G), orf1a, helicase, orf3a, and Nucleocapside. The virus associated with the reinfection, from an endemic lineage containing the S:L452R immune escape mutation, was circulating in Panama at the time.

Molecular Epidemiology of Dengue in Panama: 25 Years of Circulation.

Dengue virus (DENV) is the most prevalent arbovirus in terms of human public health importance globally. In addition to DENV epidemiological surveillance, genomic surveillance may help investigators understand the epidemiological dynamics, geographic distribution, and temporal patterns of DENV circulation. Herein, we aimed to reconstruct the molecular epidemiology and phylogeny of DENV in Panama to connect the epidemiological history of DENV dispersal and circulation in Latin America.

The reintroduction of DENV-2 in 2011 in Panama and subsequent outbreak characteristic.

The circulation of the South-east Asian/American (AS/AM) dengue 2 virus (DENV-2) genotype in the Americas has been associated with a high rate of severe disease. From 1993, the year DENV was reintroduced in Panama, until 2011 there were 29 dengue-associated deaths, 17 of which occurred in 2011, the most severe outbreak with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 44% (17 deaths out of 38 severe dengue cases). During this outbreak DENV-2 was reintroduced into the country, whereas over the prior five years DENV-1 and -3 were predominant.

Interaction of Flavivirus with their mosquito vectors and their impact on the human health in the Americas.

Some of the major arboviruses with public health importance, such as dengue, yellow fever, Zika and West Nile virus are mosquito-borne or mosquito-transmitted Flavivirus. Their principal vectors are from the family Culicidae, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus being responsible of the urban cycles of dengue, Zika and yellow fever virus. These vectors are highly competent for transmission of many arboviruses.

Clinical Manifestations of Punta Toro Virus Species Complex Infections, Panama, 2009.

An investigation in Panama found that Punta Toro virus species complex (PTVs) may contribute to febrile illnesses with symptoms mirroring those of dengue fever. However, further studies are needed to determine if PTV infection causes only a mild disease or if it can have more serious manifestations in some patients.

Unusual pattern of chikungunya virus epidemic in the Americas, the Panamanian experience.

Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) typically causes explosive epidemics of fever, rash and polyarthralgia after its introduction into naïve populations. Since its introduction in Panama in May of 2014, few autochthonous cases have been reported; most of them were found within limited outbreaks in Panama City in 2014 and Puerto Obaldia town, near the Caribbean border with Colombia in 2015. In order to confirm that Panama had few CHIKV cases compared with neighboring countries, we perform an epidemiological analysis of chikungunya cases reported from May 2014 to July 2015.

Mercadeo Virus: A Novel Mosquito-Specific Flavivirus from Panama.

Viruses in the genus Flavivirus (family Flaviviridae) include many arthropod-borne viruses of public health and veterinary importance. However, during the past two decades an explosion of novel insect-specific flaviviruses (ISFs), some closely related to vertebrate pathogens, have been discovered. Although many flavivirus pathogens of vertebrates have been isolated from naturally infected mosquitoes in Panama, ISFs have not previously been reported from the country.

Chikungunya virus infection: first detection of imported and autochthonous cases in Panama.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that was only endemic in Africa and south Asia until 2005 and 2006, when the virus spread into the Indian Ocean islands, Europe, and Asia. Autochthonous CHIKV transmission in the Caribbean islands was reported in December of 2013. In Panama, two febrile cases were detected in May of 2014: one traveling from Haiti, and the other traveling from the Dominican Republic.

Eastern equine encephalitis in Latin America.

Background: The eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) viruses are pathogens that infect humans and horses in the Americas. Outbreaks of neurologic disease in humans and horses were reported in Panama from May through early August 2010.

Methods: We performed antibody assays and tests to detect viral RNA and isolate the viruses in serum samples from hospitalized patients.