We conducted a cross-sectional study of Chagas disease in five endemic areas in Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, and México to estimate the prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi-specific antibodies in pregnant women, and to assess the use of a rapid test (Chagas Stat-Pak) to screen for T. cruzi infection at the time of delivery. The prevalence of antibodies to T. cruzi measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in maternal blood was 5.5% (a range of 0.8-28.8% among the countries) in 2,495 women enrolled. Compared with ELISA in maternal blood samples, the Chagas Stat-Pak rapid test sensitivity and specificity in umbilical cord blood were 94.6% and 99.0%, respectively. These results show the ability for a rapid determination of the presence of T. cruzi-specific antibodies in umbilical cord blood as a pragmatic strategy to screen for infection in pregnant women.

BackgroundAntenatal corticosteroids administered to women at risk of preterm birth is an intervention which has been proved to reduce the risk of respiratory distress syndrome, intraventricular hemorrhage, and neonatal mortality. There is a significant gap in the literature regarding the prevalence of the use of antenatal corticosteroids in Latin American countries and the attitudes and opinions of providers regarding this practice. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of health care providers regarding the use of antenatal corticosteroids in women at risk of preterm birth in Latin America.MethodsThis was a multicenter, prospective, descriptive study conducted in maternity hospitals in Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay. Physicians and midwives who provide prenatal care or intrapartum care for women delivering in the selected hospitals were approached using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used.ResultsThe percentage of use of ACT in threatened preterm labour (TPL) reported by providers varies from 70% in Mexico to 97% in Ecuador. However, 60% to 20% of the providers mentioned that they would not use this medication in women at risk and would limit its use when there was a threatened preterm labour. In only one country recommended regimens of antenatal corticosteroids are followed by around 90% of providers whereas in the other three countries recommended regimens are followed by only 21%, 61%, 69% of providers. Around 40% of providers mentioned that they would administer a new dose of corticosteroids again, regardless the patient already receiving an entire regimen. Between 11% and 35% of providers, according to the countries, mentioned that they do not have adequate information on the correct use of this medication.ConclusionsThis study shows that the use of this intervention could be improved by increasing the knowledge of Latin American providers on its indications, benefits, and regimens.

Aims: Disease for a novel coronavirus has been a big public health challenge around the world in the past several months. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemic and report the number of confirmed cases and deaths of disease for a novel coronavirus in Mexico until May 15, 2020. Study Design:  Ecological study. Place and Duration of Study: Registries of confirmed cases for disease for a novel coronavirus in Mexican population during January and until May 15, 2020, from National System of Epidemiological Surveillance/ General Direction of Epidemiology/ Secretary of Health, Mexico. Methodology: Based on the database of confirmed cases of disease for a novel coronavirus by Secretary of Health in Mexico, we collected data on age, gender, and deaths, and co-morbidities. As of May 15, 2020, 45,032 cases have been identified in Mexico.  Results: The first confirmed case in Mexico has been identified on January 8, 2020 and the incidence has been rising from the end of February and throughout March. The early confirmed cases were imported cases resulting from travel to USA, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Singapore. No one travelled to China. No cases of community transmission have been reported. The cause-specific mortality rate was 10.59% and the possibility to death is three times more if comorbidities are in the patient. Conclusion: The frequency of confirmed cases of disease for a novel coronavirus in Mexico are concerning and the health authorities in Mexico are waiting for the peak of the epidemiological curve to occur in May. The mortality is high with co-morbidities.

We sought to determine the serological test that could be used for Trypanosoma cruzi seroprevalence studies in Mexico, where lineage I predominates. In a previous study among pregnant women and their newborns in the states of Yucatan and Guanajuato, we reported a 0.8–0.9% of prevalence for T. cruzi–specific antibodies by Stat-Pak and Wiener ELISA. We have expanded this study here by performing an additional non-commercial ELISA and confirming the seropositives with Western blot, using whole antigens of a local parasite strain. We found a seroprevalence of 0.6% (3/500) in Merida and 0.4% in Guanajuato (2/488). The 5 seropositive umbilical cord samples reacted to both non-commercial ELISA and Western blot tests, and only 1 of the maternal samples was not reactive to non-commercial ELISA. A follow-up of the newborns at 10 mo was performed in Yucatan to determine the presence of T. cruzi antibodies in children as evidence of congenital infection. None of the children was seropositive. One newborn from an infected mother died at 2 wk of age of cardiac arrest, but T. cruzi infection was not confirmed. The T. cruzi seroprevalence data obtained with both commercial tests (Stat-Pak and ELISA Wiener) are similar to those from non-commercial tests using a local Mexican strain of T. cruzi.