Malaria, Dengue Fever, and Leptospirosis in the Urabá Antioqueño Region, Colombia: Etiological and Molecular Characterization among Patients with Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness.

Acute undifferentiated febrile illness (AUFI) is the main cause of medical attention in the tropics worldwide. Malaria, arboviral diseases, and leptospirosis are the most important etiologies. These are highly endemic in the Urabá antioqueño, Colombia, being the main causes of fever in several municipalities in this region.

Molecular Characterization of Species among Patients with Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness from the Municipality of Villeta, Colombia.

is a bacterial genus that includes several pathogenic species related to leptospirosis. In Colombia, leptospirosis is a mandatorily reported disease, widely distributed across the country. In the Villeta municipality, leptospirosis has been identified as an important cause of febrile illness; however, to date, no studies have been performed to identify the circulating species.

Etiological characterization of acute undifferentiated febrile illness in Apartadó and Villeta municipalities, Colombia, during COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Acute undifferentiated febrile illness (AUFI) is one of the leading causes of illness in tropical regions. Although malaria is the most important cause, other pathogens such as Dengue (DENV), and recently, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) have gained importance. In Colombia, few studies aimed to identify the etiology of AUFI.

Natural SARS-CoV- 2 infection in domestic cats and dogs of humans diagnosed with COVID-19 in Valle de Aburrá, Antioquia.

Unlabelled: Introducción. El síndrome respiratorio agudo grave causado por el nuevo coronavirus SARSCoV-2 es causa de la emergencia sanitaria por la pandemia de COVID-19. Si bien el humano es el el principal huésped vulnerable, en estudios experimentales y reportes de infección natural, se han encontrado casos de zoonosis inversa de SARS-CoV-2 en animales.

An updated review and current challenges of Guanarito virus infection, Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever.

Guanarito virus (GTOV) is a member of the family Arenaviridae and has been designated a category A bioterrorism agent by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is endemic to Venezuela's western region, and it is the etiological agent of "Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever" (VHF). Similar to other arenaviral hemorrhagic fevers, VHF is characterized by fever, mild hemorrhagic signs, nonspecific symptoms, thrombocytopenia, and leukopenia.

Detection of tick-borne rickettsial pathogens in naturally infected dogs and dog-associated ticks in Medellin, Colombia.

Tick-borne rickettsial pathogens (TBRP) are important causes of infections in both dogs and humans. Dogs play an important role as a biological host for several tick species and can serve as sentinels for rickettsial infections. Our aim was to determine the presence of TBRP in dogs and in dog-associated ticks and their potential risk to human diseases in Medellin, Colombia.

Seroprevalence of arenavirus and hantavirus in indigenous populations from the Caribbean, Colombia.

Introduction: In Colombia, there is insufficient epidemiological surveillance of zoonotic hemorrhagic viruses.

Methods: We performed a sero-epidemiological study in indigenous populations of Wayuü, Kankuamos, and Tuchin communities using Maciel hantavirus and Junin arenavirus antigens for IgG detection by ELISA.

Results: IgG antibodies to hantavirus and arenavirus were found in 5/506 (1%) and 2/506 (0.

Epidemiological characterization of incident cases of Rickettsia infection in rural areas of Urabá region, Colombia.

Introduction: Most of the studies related to rickettsial infection in Colombia are cross-sectional because of the challenge in conducting prospective studies on infectious disease that may have a difficult diagnosis. Although cross-sectional studies are essential to detect people exposed to rickettsiae, they are not suited to demonstrate the recent circulation of this pathogen in areas at risk of transmission.

Objective: To characterize the epidemiology of incident cases of Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsial infection in humans and equines from rural areas of Urabá region in Colombia where outbreaks of rickettsiae previously occurred.

Development of a serosurveillance assay for detection of Necoclí virus exposure.

Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HPS) has gained importance in Latin America as an emerging disease, with reports of about 4000 HPS cases; however, this is probably an underestimate because of limited surveillance programs and diagnostic tools to confirm HPS. In order to address this issue and develop better serosurveillance capability, we evaluated three recombinant peptides from the Necoclí virus (NECV) nucleocapsid in antibody-capture ELISA. We cloned and expressed antigens representing the whole NECV nucleocapsid protein (NECV-rN), the immunodominant domain (NECV-rN100), and a serospecific domain (NECV-rN428), and then we compared these antigens in ELISA to detect IgG antibodies to NECV in human sera.

A Primate Model for Viral Hemorrhagic Fever.

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus strain WE (LCMV-WE), a Risk Group 3 virus, causes a disease in rhesus monkeys that closely resembles human infection with Lassa fever virus, a Risk Group 4 agent. Three stages of disease progression have been defined and profiled in this model: pre-viremic, viremic, and terminal. The earliest or pre-viremic stage reveals changes in the blood profile predictive of the later stages of disease.

Epidemiological Surveillance of Rodent-Borne Viruses (Roboviruses).

This article will outline surveillance approaches for rodent-borne viruses (roboviruses). We present a synopsis of the main categories of trapping methods with some notes about their use in fieldwork. We also describe the types of laboratory analysis commonly used in Robovirus surveillance.

Sampling Design and Mosquito Trapping for Surveillance of Arboviral Activity.

Mosquitoes are the most important vectors for arboviral human diseases across the world. Diseases such as Dengue Fever (DF), West Nile Virus (WNV), Yellow Fever (YF), Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE), and St. Louis Encephalitis (SLE), among others, have a deep impact in public health.

Epidemiological Surveillance of Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers With Emphasis on Clinical Virology.

This article will outline surveillance approaches for viral hemorrhagic fevers. Specific methods for surveillance of clinical samples will be emphasized. Separate articles will describe methods for surveillance of rodent-borne viruses (roboviruses) and arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses).

An Approach to the Identification and Phylogenetic Analysis of Emerging and Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses.

An important aspect of virological surveillance is the identification of the detected viruses. Broad surveillance, that typically employs deep sequencing of collected tissue samples, provides the investigator with many sequence files constructed from overlapping stretches of DNA sequences. Directed surveillance for viruses of a specific taxonomic group provides the investigator with sequence files from cDNA amplified using specific primers to conserved viral regions.

Phylogenetic Relationship of Necoclí Virus to Other South American Hantaviruses (Bunyaviridae: Hantavirus).

The results of a previous study suggested that Cherrie's cane rat (Zygodontomys cherriei) is the principal host of Necoclí virus (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) in Colombia. Bayesian analyses of complete nucleocapsid protein gene sequences and complete glycoprotein precursor gene sequences in this study confirmed that Necoclí virus is phylogenetically closely related to Maporal virus, which is principally associated with the delicate pygmy rice rat (Oligoryzomys delicatus) in western Venezuela. In pairwise comparisons, nonidentities between the complete amino acid sequence of the nucleocapsid protein of Necoclí virus and the complete amino acid sequences of the nucleocapsid proteins of other hantaviruses were ≥8.

[Genotyping and evaluation of infection dynamics in a Colombian isolate of Leptospira santarosai in hamster as an experimental model].

Introduction: Is necessary to develop models for the study of leptospirosis.

Objective: To genotype a Colombian strain of Leptospira isolated from a human with Weil´s syndrome and to evaluate its infection dynamics in the hamster experimental model.

Materials And Methods: Genotyping was performed by amplification and sequence analysis of the rrs 16S and lipL32 genes.

Histopathological kidney alterations in rats naturally infected with Leptospira.

Introduction: Histopathological changes by Leptospira in naturally infected rodent reservoirs have been poorly described.

Objective: The aim of the current study is to describe renal histopathology associated with leptospirosis infection of naturally infected rodents captured in the urban area of the city of Medellin, Colombia.

Materials And Methods: We performed hematoxilin-eosin (H-E) on kidney samples collected from 254 captured rodents.

[Ecoepidemiology of rickettsial infection in rodents, ectoparasites and humans in northeastern Antioquia, Colombia].

Introduction: Rickettsia spp. are tick, flea or lice-borne pathogenic bacterium, usually carried by rodents. In the last decade three outbreaks of rickettsial disease including fatalities, occurred in the provinces of Antioquia and Córdoba in northwestern Colombia.