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Acute Chagas disease (ACD) cases are reported sporadically in Peru. In this report we describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of eight new ACD cases detected by the surveillance system in the Amazon basin, between 2009 and 2016. The average age was 12,7 ±13.7 years, range between 1 to 44 years and 4/8 cases were men. One case was associated with acute diarrheal disease, another with Leptospirosis, and two with urinary tract infection. The global case fatality-rate was 12.5% (1/8). Late detection is a frequent characteristic related with low diagnostic suspicion in patients with a history of fever. The TcI and TcIV lineage was identified as the etiological agent of Chagas disease. Eight new cases of ACDs are reported, of which seven were children.

Objective: To identify risk factors to pre-surgical complications in patients with cystic echinococcosis (CE) in endemic areas of Peru. Materials and methods: Study of cases (n=43) and controls (n=127) not paired was designed, with a case- control ratio of 1:3 based on a secondary source. A case was defined as a patient with CE who presented pre-surgical complications related or not with the disease and the control without pre-surgical complication. The response variable was preoperative complication and the exposure variables were age, gender, degree of instruction, occupation, number, size (diameter in centimeters) and location of the cyst. To identify the risk factors, a bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to obtain the crude odds ratios (cOR) and then the variables with significant association were adjusted by a multivariate logistic regression analysis using the Stata® version 14 software, obtaining the adjusted odds ratios (aOR). Results: Fifty eight point eight percent (24/43) of the cases were women and the median age was 35 years and 59.1% (75/127) of the controls correspond to the female gender and the median age was 27 years. The multivariate logistic regression analysis found that being over 56 years old has an aOR 2.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.007-8.433) and having ≥3 cysts has an aOR 4.26 (95% CI: 1.62-11.22) for present pre-surgical complications in patients with CE. Conclusion: It was identified that being over 56 years old and having ≥3 cysts are risk factors for presenting pre-surgical complications in CE.

Objectives. To identify factors behind a community’s reluctance to dengue vector control efforts in three districts of the Piura region in Peru. Materials and methods. Fieldwork was conducted in May 2015 in the districts of Mori, Rinconada, Llicuar, and Sullana on the northern coast of Peru. Qualitative research methods were employed to understand varying perspectives of individuals involved in the dengue issue. Techniques such as interviewing and observation were used. Interviews included open-ended, in-depth questions. Individual interviews, focus groups, and home visits of community members were performed. Results. Reluctance was based on four arguments: 1. Fumigation is ineffective; 2. Personnel intervening are untrustworthy; 3. The timing of activities is unsuitable; and 4. The larvicide used affected water quality and taste. There was clear heterogeneity in reluctant groups: community members with high economic status, residents in high-risk or “red zone” areas, families with someone working as a healthcare professional, and houses with an ill or disabled member. Conclusions. The arguments behind reluctance as well as the composition of groups reluctant to vector control during dengue outbreaks in the districts examined were heterogeneous. Control strategies must take this heterogeneity into account.

Conocer las características biológicas de una cepa de Trypanosoma cruzi, procedente de Tiabaya, Arequipa, Perú, y determinar la supervivencia de los ratones inoculados con relación a la dosis infectante y al sexo. Se utilizaron 14 ratones BALB/C-53 (machos y hembras) de 30 días. Los grupos I y II fueron inoculados por vía intraperitoneal con 1,8 x 105 y 1,8 x 104 trypomastigotes metacíclicos de T. cruzi, respectivamente; el grupo III con 1,5 x 107 trypomastigotes sanguíneos. El grupo control (IV) recibió solo solución salina fisiológica al 0,9 %. Los parásitos fueron evaluados en sangre periférica de los ratones. El análisis de supervivencia fue realizado por el método de Kaplan-Meier, test de Logaritmo de rangos y Wilcoxon al 95 % de nivel de confianza. Se encontraron formas delgadas y gruesas de T. cruzi. La letalidad fue 100 % al día 40 postinfección (pi). La parasitemia fue detectada desde el 6to hasta el 40mo día pi y el pico máximo global (6747 parásitos) fue observado al 29no día pi. Existen diferencias significativas en la supervivencia de los ratones inoculados de acuerdo a la dosis por la prueba de Logaritmo de rangos (p = 0,0202). La cepa de T. cruzi, procedente de Tiabaya, Arequipa es de mediana virulencia. La supervivencia de los ratones infectados está relacionada a la dosis de inoculación.

A partir del caso de una niña de seis años con diagnóstico confirmado de enfermedad de Chagas aguda, procedente de la localidad de Pozuzo (Oxapampa-Junín) en al selva central del Perú, un área no señalada como endémica en el país, se realizó un estudio epidemiológico a partir de la vivienda de la niña y se extendió a la población cercana. Las viviendas visitadas no presentaron condiciones apropiadas para la colonización de triatominos, no se encontraron en la búsqueda activa durante el día, sin embargo, en búsqueda nocturna se capturaron dos ejemplares en casa de la niña y siete en casas vecinas que fueron identificados como Panstrongylus geniculatus adultos, dos estaban infestados con trypanosomatideos. Todos los entrevistados identificaron al vector, 8/13 manifestaron haber sufrido picaduras de "chirimachas", nombre por el cual lo conocen. El examen clínico y serológico en busca de reactivos a T. cruzi entre los pobladores de las viviendas cercanas fue negativo. Consideramos que siendo el vector de hábitos silvestres, su presencia en la vivienda está relacionada con la ampliación de la zona agrícola ganada a la selva. El alejamiento de los mamíferos y aves silvestres esta determinando cambios en el biotopo de los triatominos, que buscan su alimento en el interior de las viviendas e infectan en forma esporádica a la población humana.