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Biomedical subjects

P Barreto

Publications and source records attributed to P Barreto.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Assessing suffering.

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Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1988

Tropical spastic paraparesis in Colombia.

A high-incidence focus of tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP) occurs on the South Pacific coast of Colombia. Of 55 patients studied, 52 (94.5%) had IgG antibodies to the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid. Control groups did not show similar high positivity. Our results suggest that HTLV-I or other antigenically related retroviruses may be the cause of TSP in Colombia. Similar clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological findings have been reported in widely remote geographical regions of the world, with very similar clinical pictures of TSP in all high-incidence regions. The demonstration of IgG antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with TSP in the Caribbean and Seychelles Islands, southern Japan, and the Ivory Coast indicate that the HTLV-I retrovirus could be the cause of this "tropical" myeloneuropathy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Epidemiology of Trypanosoma cruzi in the oriental plains of Colombia.

Epidemiologic studies to define the domiciliary and extradomiciliary transmission cycles of Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma rangeli in the Oriental Plains of Colombia were conducted in the gallery forests near Carimagua and El Porvenir. One-hundred and seven palm trees belonging to nine genera were examined; triatomines were found in only three palm species, the leaves of which are locally used for roof thatching: 2/29 Maximiliana elegans, 1/7 Mauritia flexuosa and 7/7 Scheelea sp. Bugs were also found in 5/14 hollow Mauritia inhabited by bats, 4/21 bird nests and 1/4 armadillo burrows. Five species of triatomines were collected: Rhodnius prolixus was the most abundant, 192 of the total 207 (92%) collected; the bugs were found in Maximiliana and Mauritia but especially in Scheelea, and 8% were infected with T. cruzi and T. rangeli; Cavenicola pilosa and Triatoma maculata were found associated with bats; Psammolestes arthuri and Panstrongylus lignarius with bird nests and Panstrongylus geniculatus with armadillos. Although triatomine colonies were not found in human dwellings, flying adults of R. prolixus occasionally reached houses by their own locomotion and fed on man, but did not become established. Only 12 of 199 persons (6%) tested serologically were reactors to T. cruzi antigens and all 12 had lived in areas of domiciliary transmission elsewhere in the country, indicating that domiciliary transmission is not occurring in this region. Whether the presence of domiciliary R. prolixus in houses located in the ecologically altered piedmont of the oriental plains, a known area of domiciliary transmission of T. cruzi, is due to importation of domiciliary bugs from endemic areas or to the domiciliarization of wild R. prolixus remains to be determined.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Leishmaniasis in Colombia, a review.

A review is made of 60 publications on leishmaniasis in Colombia reported between 1889 and the present. A serious source of difficulty in interpreting the literature is the frequent discussion of "cases" (1,536 of 1,865, or 82%) that were never confirmed by observation of the parasite or by positive immunological tests. The apparent distribution of the disease is considerably biased by the real distribution of physicians. Nevertheless, laboratory-confirmed cutaneous leishmaniasis has been reported from most humid, lowland regions, and apparently the disease is endemic in nearly all the administrative sections of the country. Mucocutaneous involvement seems to occur in around 25% of the cases. Visceral leishmaniasis is seldom reported and is known to occur only in the Magdalena River basin. There have been no surveys to identify arthropod vectors or wild reservoir hosts, although two naturally infected dogs were associated with one of the visceral leishmaniasis cases. Leishmaniasis is a seldom diagnosed but major health problem in several regions of Colombia, in terms of the number of persons affected and the difficulty of obtaining treatment.

Animals↗