Enterobiasis and its risk factors in urban, rural and indigenous children of subtropical Argentina.

A cross-sectional survey to assess the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis infection and its associated factors among the child population of infant, preschool and school age in the urban, rural and indigenous population of Iguazú city, in subtropical Argentina was presented. Additionally, the status of enterobiasis at country level was reviewed and analysed. Enterobius vermicularis presence was assessed employing an oviscopic serial sampling technique. Statistical analysis of socio-demographic determinants was performed by generalized linear mixed models at individual, household and community levels. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were used to gather national information about E. vermicularis prevalence spanning the decade 2010­2020. A total of 916 children from 470 families participated. Overall prevalence was 29.8%, with 25.3, 30.7 and 34.2% detected for children inhabiting urban, rural and indigenous villages, respectively. The multi-level analysis showed that the presence of E. vermicularis was mostly determined by individual (e.g. age, playing habits, previous pinworm infection) and household-level factors (e.g. family size, overcrowding conditions). Interestingly, WASH variables, such as waste disposal, analysed at community level were also important. Data were analysed to provide eco-epidemiological features of enterobiasis in a heterogeneous subtropical child population in the same territory but with different socio-sanitary realities. The importance of promoting multi-level actions against the determinants identified, to control this public health problem integratively was evidenced. The scoping review of national data updated the state of knowledge of this parasitosis, identifying risk determinants and gaps in knowledge at country level.

Giardia spp., the most ubiquitous protozoan parasite in Argentina: human, animal and environmental surveys reported in the last 40 years.

Giardia is a parasite distributed worldwide and one of the most prevalent intestinal protozoa in Argentina. We analysed all the national information regarding the prevalence of Giardia infections in humans, animals and environmental surveys over the last 40 years. In this work, we used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines and the period between 1980 and 2019 was defined as time lapse for inclusion of the studies. The analysis was conducted using the LILACS, PubMed, Scopus and Argentina SciELO databases employing as keywords 'Giardia' AND 'Argentina'. We also carried out a manual review of papers. Of 304 articles, 92 fitted the eligibility criteria. Giardia was reported in 15 of the 23 Argentine provinces; human prevalence was between 3.4 and 64.8%. Indigenous children and residents in peri-urban areas had the higher infection rates. In animals, Giardia was identified mainly in dogs with a prevalence of 8.9 ± 7.0%, and studies of wild animals and cattle were notably scarce. Environmental studies showed that Giardia was detected in the soil and water which may act as reservoirs for this parasite revealing the need to modify the national water treatment legislation. The identification of Giardia genetic assemblages in the studies analysed was limited and showed that genotypes AII and B were found in humans while assemblage B was mainly detected in animals. This report provides useful information on epidemiological aspects of giardiasis in Argentina that may help to define future research priorities and provides useful tools for professionals regarding actual information on the prevalence of this infection.

Substantial reduction in child stunting is differentially associated to geographical and socioeconomic disparities in Misiones Province, Argentina.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate trends in the prevalence of child stunting in the population of children under 5 years of age covered by public health programmes, between 2009 and 2014 in Misiones, Argentina. METHODS: Using Bayesian model-based geostatistics, we evaluated 724 872 anthropometric measurements corresponding to 110 633 children. In order to identify disparities at local scale, we evaluated the hypotheses of a differential reduction of stunting according to the geographical location (at two-level spatial resolution) and to the socioeconomic level in a rural or urban environment. RESULTS: The prevalence of stunting had fallen significantly in the province overall. Sex and age defined gender disparities at individual level, and there were regional disparities with higher prevalence values in the north and northeast regions. In these areas, stunting decreased to a greater degree during the studied period, although the spatial pattern remained smoother. Stunting increased in peripheral urban and dispersed rural areas that are socioeconomically vulnerable. CONCLUSIONS: The spatial multi-level geostatistical estimates of child undernutrition provide a precision public health tool to target public policies to those populations with the greatest need, in order to reduce health disparities.

OBJECTIF: Estimer les tendances dans la prévalence du retard de croissance dans la population des enfants de moins de 5 ans couverts par les programmes de santé publique, entre 2009 et 2014 à Misiones, en Argentine. MÉTHODES: En utilisant la géostatistique basée sur un modèle bayésien, nous avons évalué 724.872 mesures anthropométriques correspondant à 110.633 enfants. Afin d'identifier les disparités à l'échelle locale, nous avons évalué les hypothèses d'une réduction différentielle du retard de croissance en fonction de la situation géographique (à une résolution spatiale à deux niveaux) et du niveau socioéconomique en milieu rural ou urbain. RÉSULTATS: La prévalence du retard de croissance avait considérablement diminué dans l'ensemble de la province. Le sexe et l'âge définissaient des disparités entre les sexes au niveau individuel, et il y avait des disparités régionales avec des valeurs de prévalence plus élevées dans les régions du nord et du nord-est. Dans ces régions, le retard de croissance a diminué plus fortement au cours de la période étudiée, bien que le modèle spatial soit resté plus lisse. Le retard de croissance a augmenté dans les zones urbaines périphériques et les zones rurales dispersées qui sont socioéconomiquement vulnérables. CONCLUSIONS: Les estimations géostatistiques spatiales à plusieurs niveaux de la sous-nutrition infantile fournissent un outil de santé publique de précision pour cibler les politiques publiques sur les populations qui en ont le plus besoin, afin de réduire les disparités en matière de santé.

Effects of human impacts on habitat use, activity patterns and ecological relationships among medium and small felids of the Atlantic Forest.

Competition theory and niche theory suggest that two morphologically similar species may coexist by reducing the overlap of at least one dimension of their ecological niche. The medium and small Neotropical felids are an interesting group of carnivore species for studying intraguild competition. Due to differences in size it is expected that the larger ocelot exert strong interference competition on the smaller felids (southern tiger cat, margay and jaguarundi); which, in turn, may exert exploitative competition among themselves. Moreover, landscape changes due to human activities may alter these interspecific interactions. We studied the habitat use and the spatial and temporal interspecific relations of the medium and small Atlantic Forest felids, in a landscape with different levels of anthropogenic impact. We estimated the detection probability, and occupancy probability of these cats and whether these parameters are affected by environmental and anthropogenic variables or by the estimated occupancy and detection probability of the ocelot. We estimated the overlap in daily activity patterns between pairs of the four species and changes in their activity in response to anthropogenic impact. We also studied the potential changes that may have occurred in the daily activity of the small felids in relation to ocelot's occupancy probability. The probability of habitat use of the small- and medium-size felids was negatively associated to the intensity of landscape use by humans. Co-occurrence models indicated that the probability of habitat use by southern tiger cats decreased with ocelot occupancy probability. This effect was higher as human disturbance increased. Moreover, the ocelot and the southern tiger cat became more nocturnal in sites with higher human access, suggesting that they may be temporally avoiding encounters with humans or dogs. Conservation of medium and small felids in the Atlantic Forest depends not only on the establishment and implementations of protected areas but also on the management of human's land uses.

Environmental and socio-demographic individual, family and neighborhood factors associated with children intestinal parasitoses at Iguazú, in the subtropical northern border of Argentina.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal parasitoses are a major concern for public health, especially in children from middle and low-income populations of tropical and subtropical areas. We examined the presence and co-infection of parasites in humans as well as parasitic environmental contamination in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. We explored the environmental and socio-demographic characteristics of the persistence of parasites in children and their environment. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This cross-section survey was conducted among children population comprised into the area of the public health care centers of Iguazú during June 2013 to May 2016. Copro-parasitological status of 483 asymptomatic children was assessed. Simultaneously, a design-based sampling of 744 soil samples and 530 dog feces was used for characterize the environmental contamination. The 71.5% of these sites were contaminated. Sixteen genera were detected in the environment being hookworms (62.0%) the main pathogens group detected followed by Toxocara spp (16.3%), Trichuris spp (15.2%) and Giardia (6.5%). Total children prevalence raised 58.8%, detecting twelve genera of parasite with Giardia intestinalis as the most prevalent pathogen (29.0%) followed by Enterobius vermicularis (23.0%), Hymenolepis nana (12.4%) and hookworms (4.4%). Through questionnaires and census data, we characterized the socio-demographics conditions at an individual, family and neighborhood levels. A multi-level analysis including environmental contamination data showed that the ´presence of parasites´ was mostly determined by individual (e.g. age, playing habits, previous treatment) and household level (e.g. UBN, WASH, mother's literacy) determinants. Remarkably, to define the level of 'parasite co-infection', besides individual and household characteristics, environmental factors at a neighborhood level were important. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our work represents the major survey of intestinal parasites in human and environmental samples developed in the region. High prevalence was detected in the children population as well as in their environment. This work shows the importance of considering and promoting multi-level actions over the identified determinants to face this public health problem from integrative approaches.

Space Use and Movement of a Neotropical Top Predator: The Endangered Jaguar.

Accurately estimating home range and understanding movement behavior can provide important information on ecological processes. Advances in data collection and analysis have improved our ability to estimate home range and movement parameters, both of which have the potential to impact species conservation. Fitting continuous-time movement model to data and incorporating the autocorrelated kernel density estimator (AKDE), we investigated range residency of forty-four jaguars fit with GPS collars across five biomes in Brazil and Argentina. We assessed home range and movement parameters of range resident animals and compared AKDE estimates with kernel density estimates (KDE). We accounted for differential space use and movement among individuals, sex, region, and habitat quality. Thirty-three (80%) of collared jaguars were range resident. Home range estimates using AKDE were 1.02 to 4.80 times larger than KDE estimates that did not consider autocorrelation. Males exhibited larger home ranges, more directional movement paths, and a trend towards larger distances traveled per day. Jaguars with the largest home ranges occupied the Atlantic Forest, a biome with high levels of deforestation and high human population density. Our results fill a gap in the knowledge of the species' ecology with an aim towards better conservation of this endangered/critically endangered carnivore-the top predator in the Neotropics.

A biodiversity hotspot losing its top predator: The challenge of jaguar conservation in the Atlantic Forest of South America.

The jaguar is the top predator of the Atlantic Forest (AF), which is a highly threatened biodiversity hotspot that occurs in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. By combining data sets from 14 research groups across the region, we determine the population status of the jaguar and propose a spatial prioritization for conservation actions. About 85% of the jaguar's habitat in the AF has been lost and only 7% remains in good condition. Jaguars persist in around 2.8% of the region, and live in very low densities in most of the areas. The population of jaguars in the AF is probably lower than 300 individuals scattered in small sub-populations. We identified seven Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs) and seven potential JCUs, and only three of these areas may have ≥50 individuals. A connectivity analysis shows that most of the JCUs are isolated. Habitat loss and fragmentation were the major causes for jaguar decline, but human induced mortality is the main threat for the remaining population. We classified areas according to their contribution to jaguar conservation and we recommend management actions for each of them. The methodology in this study could be used for conservation planning of other carnivore species.

Development and testing of an optimized method for DNA-based identification of jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) faecal samples for use in ecological and genetic studies.

The elusive nature and endangered status of most carnivore species imply that efficient approaches for their non-invasive sampling are required to allow for genetic and ecological studies. Faecal samples are a major potential source of information, and reliable approaches are needed to foster their application in this field, particularly in areas where few studies have been conducted. A major obstacle to the reliable use of faecal samples is their uncertain species-level identification in the field, an issue that can be addressed with DNA-based assays. In this study we describe a sequence-based approach that efficiently distinguishes jaguar versus puma scats, and that presents several desirable properties: (1) considerably high amplification and sequencing rates; (2) multiple diagnostic sites reliably differentiating the two focal species; (3) high information content that allows for future application in other carnivores; (4) no evidence of amplification of prey DNA; and (5) no evidence of amplification of a nuclear mitochondrial DNA insertion known to occur in the jaguar. We demonstrate the reliability and usefulness of this approach by evaluating 55 field-collected samples from four locations in the highly fragmented Atlantic Forest biome of Brazil and Argentina, and document the presence of one or both of these endangered felids in each of these areas.