EpidemiologíaBrotes de enfermedades transmitidas por alimentos y agua en la Región Metropolitana, Chile (2005Chile ( -2010 Viller Alerte, Sandra Cortés A., Janepsy Díaz T., Jeannette Vollaire Z., M. Eugenia Espinoza M., Verónica Solari G., Jaime Cerda L. (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) were 32 cases per 100 inhabitants. A total of 12,196 people were affected, with an average of 5 patients per outbreak. The households (36.2%), restaurants (16.3%), supermarkets (6.3%) free fair (4.4%) have been the most important outbreak areas. The foods involved were seafood (15.4%), fi sh (15.1%), and fast food (13.5%). The etiologic agents were Salmonella spp, Shigella spp, Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Conclusions: Outbreaks foodborne diseases are frequents in the Chilean urban area, which make vulnerable a lot of people. The largest numbers happened in the households and were due to bad handling and/or inappropriate storage of the foods.

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Sentry surveillance study of rotavirus gastroenteritis in Chile A sentinel-based outpatient and inpatient surveillance for rotavirus infection has been implemented in Chile. Aim: Update the impact of rotavirus infections in Chile. Methods: Ambulatory surveillance is performed in 14 centers from 8 Regions and hospital-based surveillance in 8 hospitals from three Regions (V, VIII and Metropolitan). Results: In 2007, 339 stool samples that represented 9.3% of all outpatient cases were studied of which 15% were rotavirus positive. A total of 2.074 children younger than 5 years of age were hospitalized representing 9% of all hospitalizations for this age group. Rotavirus was detected in 13.6% of these cases. Conclusions: In the current epidemiological situation, rotavirus surveillance needs to be sustained with increased efforts to detect cases in order to avoid underreporting. Serotype/genotype surveillance of rotavirus strains needs to be included in the near future.