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Background: Salvador was one of the Brazilian cities most affected during the 2015 Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak., Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with enrolment of parturients and their newborns., Results: Positive IgM antibodies for ZIKV, dengue (DENV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) were present in 6.9, 11.9 and 22.8% of the parturients, and IgG antibodies were detected in 72.3, 92.3 and 38.6%, respectively. No cases of DENV congenital infection were identified. ZIKV and CHIKV congenital infections were observed in 16.5 and 13% of newborns, respectively., Conclusions: High exposure rates to the three arboviruses and the identification of newborns with ZIKV and CHIKV congenital infections reinforces the necessity of ZIKV and CHIKV prenatal and neonatal screening in endemic regions., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is still a major problem in Brazil and several other countries where the disease is endemic. The use of an easy-to-use and interpret, sensitive, and specific method that requires no complex infrastructure or specialized professionals, such as direct agglutination test (DAT) and the rK39-based rapid immunochromatographic test may enhance the diagnosis of disease. This study evaluated the performance of a rapid test (DiaMed- IT-LEISH®) and the DAT for the diagnosis of VL in 213 parasitologically confirmed cases and 119 controls with clinical suspicion of VL and confirmation of another etiology. The sensitivities and specificities of the rapid test were 93% and 97%, respectively and those of the DAT were 90% and 96%, respectively. The positive predictive values of the rapid test and the DAT were 98% and 97%, respectively and the negative predictive values were 89% and 84%, respectively. The Kappa index showed agreement between both methods classified as substantial (0.77). This study showed that the DAT and the rapid test can be used to diagnose VL in Brazil, following a pilot study for implementation of the rapid test in the health services., (Copyright © 2010 Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)