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Susto, a folk illness not recognized by biomedical practitioners as a disease, is now formally part of the diagnostic classification system in psychiatry as a "culture-bound syndrome." Susto has been reported among diverse groups of Latin Americans, but most of those reports are several decades old and many were conducted in Indian communities. This study focuses on contemporary descriptions of susto and uses a cross-cultural, comparative design to describe susto in three diverse Latino populations. Mestizo/ladino populations were interviewed in Guatemala, Mexico, and south Texas. An initial set of open-ended interviews was conducted with a sample of "key" informants at each site to obtain descriptive information about susto. A structured interview protocol was developed for use at all three sites, incorporating information from those initial interviews. A second set of structured interviews was then conducted with a representative sample at each site. Results indicate a good deal of consistency in reports of what susto is: what causes it, its symptoms, and how to treat it. There appear to be, however, some notable regional variations in treatments and a difference between past descriptions and contemporary reports of etiology.

Latinos recently became the largest racial/ethnic minority group of US children. The Latino Consortium of the American Academy of Pediatrics Center for Child Health Research, consisting of 13 expert panelists, identified the most important urgent priorities and unanswered questions in Latino child health. Conclusions were drawn when consensus was reached among members, with refinement through multiple iterations. A consensus statement with supporting references was drafted and revised. This article summarizes the key issues, including lack of validated research instruments, frequent unjustified exclusion from studies, and failure to analyze data by pertinent subgroups. Latino children are at high risk for behavioral and developmental disorders, and there are many unanswered questions about their mental health needs and use of services. The prevalence of dental caries is disproportionately higher for Latino children, but the reasons for this disparity are unclear. Culture and language can profoundly affect Latino children's health, but not enough cultural competency training of health care professionals and provision of linguistically appropriate care occur. Latinos are underrepresented at every level of the health care professions. Latino children are at high risk for school dropout, environmental hazards, obesity, diabetes mellitus, asthma, lack of health insurance, nonfinancial barriers to health care access, and impaired quality of care, but many key questions in these areas remain unanswered. This article suggests areas in which more research is needed and ways to improve research and care of Latino children.

To describe Latino beliefs about AIDS (SIDA), Latino adults were sampled at two U.S. sites (Connecticut and Texas) and two international sites (Mexico and Guatemala). A 125-item questionnaire covered risk factors, symptoms, treatments, and sequellae of AIDS. The cultural consensus model was used to determine the cultural beliefs for each sample. Responses from 161 people indicated that a single set of beliefs was present at each site and that beliefs were shared across sites. Comparison of answers between samples indicated high agreement (p.0007). The proportion of shared beliefs, however, decreased significantly between samples: .68 in Connecticut, .60 in Texas, .51 in Mexico, and .41 in Guatemala (p.05). The proportion of positive answers similarly decreased from Connecticut to Guatemala (p.001). Beliefs were stronger and more detailed in the higher prevalence areas. Furthermore, Latino beliefs tended to converge on biomedical beliefs about the disease.