Curva epidemiológica de Bordetella pertussis en el Ecuador referente a los años 1999 al 2014 / Bordetella pertussis epidemiological curve in Ecuador referring to the years 1999 to 2014

Bordetella pertussises un cocobacilo Gram negativo aerobio estricto agente causal de la enfermedad infectocontagiosa conocida como tosferina que afecta predominantemente a lactantes, produciendo un alto índice de mortalidad. Mediante la elaboración de una curva epidemiológica del número de casos de la patología por Bordetella pertussis en un periodo epidémico dispuesto según etapas del tiempo, se evidenciará la evolución de los brotes en el Ecuador como aporte a la epidemiología nacional. Como objetivo específico se determina la frecuencia de aparición de B. pertussis, mediante el aislamiento de la cepa se procede a describir el comportamiento epidemiológico según la frecuencia de aparicióncomparando los datos epidemiológicos obtenidos en Ecuador con datos en el mundo, para poder destacar la importancia de implementar nuevas técnicas de laboratorio para el diagnóstico de la tosferina. El método aplicado en la investigación es descriptivo de cohorte transversal, siendo analizada la curva epidemiológica con los datos obtenidos de los aislamientos durante los años 1999 al 2014; como resultados del comportamiento epidemiológico de la Bordetella pertussisen el Ecuador se pueden visualizar picos en las gráficas que indican el inicio y el final de un brote, esto ocurre cada 3 a 5 años con la presencia de 0, 1 a 2 casos esporádicos entre cada una, tal como lo describen los reportes epidemiológicos de la OMS.Los resultados obtenidos en el estudio revelan la categoría en cuanto los recursos humanos, educación y comunicación, sus dimensiones, procedimientos clínicos, técnicos para la vigilancia de enfermedades transmisibles, las técnicas de cultivo, serología, y la unidad de análisis de las muestras clínicas recibidas de las diferentes zonas del Ecua

Bordetellapertussis is a strict aerobic Gram negative coccobacillus, causative agent of the infectious disease known as pertussis, which predominantly affects infants, producing a high mortality rate. By means of the elaboration of an epidemiological curve of the number of cases of the pathology by Bordetella Pertussis in an epidemic period arranged according to time stages, the evolution of the outbreaks in Ecuador as a contribution to the National Epidemiology will be evidenced.As a specific objective, the frequency of appearance of B. pertussis is determined by means of the isolation of the strain, we proceed to describe the epidemiological behavior according to the frequency of appearance, comparing the epidemiological data obtained in Ecuador with data obtainedin the world, in order to highlight the importance of implementing new laboratory techniques for the diagnosis of whooping cough.The method applied in the research is descriptive of a transversal cohort, the epidemiological curve being analyzed with the data obtained from the isolations during the years 1999 to 2014, as results of the epidemiological behavior of the Bordetella pertussis in Ecuador can be seen peaks in the graphs that indicate the beginning and end of an outbreak, this occurs every 3 to 5 years with the presence of 0, 1 to 2 sporadic cases between each, as described in the WHO epidemiological reports.The results obtained in the study reveal the category in terms of human resources, education and communication, its dimensions, clinical, technical procedures for the surveillance of communicable diseases, culture techniques, serology, and the unit of analysis of the clinical samples received of the different zones of Ecuador.

Estudios sobre el virus del papiloma humano (VPH) en el Ecuador: parte I / Studies on human papillomavirus (HPV) in Ecuador: part I

Aprovechando la realización de las XL Jornadas Nacionales de Biología Espol en la ciudad de Guayaquil, se realizó una sesión dedicada a la epidemiología del virus de papiloma humano (VPH) y del cáncer cervical. Esta sesión tuvo la participación de varios investigadores provenientes de diferentes zonas del Ecuador. El presente artículo tiene como objeto presentar un resumen de estas charlas, junto a un análisis de la información mostrada además de una reflexión sobre las preguntas que quedan aún por responder en cuanto al perfil epidemiológico de esta patología en el país.

Taking advantage of the realization of theXL National Conference on Espol Biology in the city of Guayaquil, a session was held dedicated to the epidemiology of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and cervical cancer. This session was attended by several researchers from different areas of Ecuador. The object of this article is to present a summary of these talks, together with an analysis of the information shown in addition to a reflection on the questions still to be answered regarding the epidemiological profile of this pathology in the country.

[Molecular characterization of Cryptococcus neoformans isolates from HIV patients, Guayaquil, Ecuador].

INTRODUCTION: Neurocryptococcosis is an opportunistic fungal infection that represents a high cost in human lives and for the economy of countries. Its causative agent, the Cryptococcus neoformans/Cryptococcus gattii species complex, has a sexual and an asexual phase, four major serotypes and seven molecular varieties with phenotypic, clinical-epidemiological and antifungal susceptibility differences. OBJECTIVE: To characterize by molecular methods clinical isolates of C. neoformans from Guayaquil, Ecuador. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We determined mating types, serotypes and molecular varieties by PCR and RFLP in 27 yeast isolates previously identified as C. neoformans by conventional methods. The isolates were recovered from cerebrospinal fluid of HIV seropositive patients with neurological syndrome admitted at "Dr. José Daniel Rodríguez Maridueña" Hospital from December, 2013, to January, 2015. RESULTS: We established a wide prevalence of C. neoformans serotype A, MATα and genotype VNI among the studied isolates. CONCLUSIONS: These data are similar to those obtained in other countries and the first identified by molecular characterization in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Therefore, they constitute an important contribution to the knowledge on cryptococcosis in this country.

Caracterización molecular de los aislamientos de Cryptococcus neoformans de pacientes con HIV, Guayaquil, Ecuador / Molecular characterization of Cryptococcus neoformans isolates from HIV patients, Guayaquil, Ecuador

Resumen Introducción. La neurocriptococosis es una infección fúngica oportunista que representa un alto costo en vidas humanas y para la economía de los países. Sus agentes causales, las especies del complejo Cryptococcus neoformans/Cryptococcus gattii, tienen una fase sexuada y otra asexuada, cuatro serotipos principales y siete variedades moleculares con diferencias clínico-epidemiológicas, fenotípicas y de sensibilidad a los antifúngicos. Objetivo. Caracterizar molecularmente los aislamientos clínicos de C. neoformans de Guayaquil, Ecuador. Materiales y métodos. Se determinó el tipo de apareamiento, el serotipo y la variedad molecular mediante reacción en cadena de la polimerasa y análisis del polimorfismo de los fragmentos de restricción de 27 aislamientos levaduriformes previamente identificados como C. neoformans mediante métodos convencionales. Los aislamientos fueron recuperados del líquido cefalorraquídeo de pacientes con síndrome neurológico seropositivos para HIV, internados en el Hospital de Infectología "Dr. José Daniel Rodríguez Maridueña", entre diciembre de 2013 y enero de 2015. Resultados. Se demostró el amplio predominio de C. neoformans del serotipo A, MATα y el genotipo VNI entre los aislamientos estudiados. Conclusiones. Estos datos son similares a los obtenidos en otros países y son los primeros de su tipo en Guayaquil, Ecuador, por lo cual constituyen un aporte importante al conocimiento de la criptococosisen esta ciudad.

Abstract Introduction: Neurocryptococcosis is an opportunistic fungal infection that represents a high cost in human lives and for the economy of countries. Its causative agent, the Cryptococcus neoformans/Cryptococcus gattiispecies complex, has a sexual and an asexual phase, four major serotypes and seven molecular varieties with phenotypic, clinical-epidemiological and antifungal susceptibility differences. Objective: To characterize by molecular methods clinicalisolates of C. neoformans from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Materials and methods: We determined mating types, serotypes and molecular varieties by PCR and RFLP in 27 yeast isolates previously identified as C. neoformans by conventional methods. The isolates were recovered from cerebrospinal fluid of HIV seropositive patients with neurological syndrome admitted at "Dr. José Daniel Rodríguez Maridueña" Hospital from December, 2013, to January, 2015. Results: We established a wide prevalence of C. neoformans serotype A, MATαand genotype VNI among the studied isolates. Conclusions: These data are similar to those obtained in other countries and the first identified by molecular characterization in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Therefore, they constitute an important contribution to the knowledge on cryptococcosis in this country.

Accurate Region-of-Interest Recovery Improves the Measurement of the Cell Migration Rate in the In Vitro Wound Healing Assay.

The wound healing assay is widely used for the quantitative analysis of highly regulated cellular events. In this essay, a wound is voluntarily produced on a confluent cell monolayer, and then the rate of wound reduction (WR) is characterized by processing images of the same regions of interest (ROIs) recorded at different time intervals. In this method, sharp-image ROI recovery is indispensable to compensate for displacements of the cell cultures due either to the exploration of multiple sites of the same culture or to transfers from the microscope stage to a cell incubator. ROI recovery is usually done manually and, despite a low-magnification microscope objective is generally used (10x), repositioning imperfections constitute a major source of errors detrimental to the WR measurement accuracy. We address this ROI recovery issue by using pseudoperiodic patterns fixed onto the cell culture dishes, allowing the easy localization of ROIs and the accurate quantification of positioning errors. The method is applied to a tumor-derived cell line, and the WR rates are measured by means of two different image processing software. Sharp ROI recovery based on the proposed method is found to improve significantly the accuracy of the WR measurement and the positioning under the microscope.