BackgroundCali, Colombia has experienced chikungunya and Zika outbreaks and hypoendemic dengue. Studies have explained Cali’s dengue patterns but lack the sub-neighborhood-scale detail investigated here.MethodsSpatial-video geonarratives (SVG) with Ministry of Health officials and Community Health Workers were collected in hotspots, providing perspective on perceptions of why dengue, chikungunya and Zika hotspots exist, impediments to control, and social outcomes. Using spatial video and Google Street View, sub-neighborhood features possibly contributing to incidence were mapped to create risk surfaces, later compared with dengue, chikungunya and Zika case data.ResultsSVG captured insights in 24 neighborhoods. Trash and water risks in Calipso were mapped using SVG results. Perceived risk factors included proximity to standing water, canals, poverty, invasions, localized violence and military migration. These risks overlapped case density maps and identified areas that are suitable for transmission but are possibly underreporting to the surveillance system.ConclusionResulting risk maps with local context could be leveraged to increase vector-control efficiency- targeting key areas of environmental risk.

Introduction: Relapses in tuberculosis occur due to endogenous reactivations or exogenous reinfections and represent up to 27% of tuberculosis cases. Its importance lies in the risk of the appearance of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains.According to the reports published in 2011 by the Colombian Instituto Nacional de Salud, there were 572 relapse cases reported in the country, i.e., a rate of 4.9%. Data of the tuberculosis control program from the Secretaría de Salud Municipal in Cali reported a relapse rate of 6%, higher than the national one, during 2013 and 2014.Objective: To determine the risk factors associated with relapse in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Cali.Materials and methods: We conducted an observational, analytical, and case-control study (1:1), which comprised 81 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis relapses detected in 2013 and 2014. Additionally, we collected data on socio-demographic and clinical variables, as well as lifestyle and health services, to identify the potential risk factors associated with tuberculosis relapses. We used logistic regression to identify the risk factors.Results: After adjustments for some variables, our multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the body mass index (BMI) (OR=0.90, 95%CI: 0.81–0.99) and population density (OR=0.99, 95%CI: 0.98–1.00) were inversely associated with tuberculosis relapses. Alcohol consumption increased the likelihood of tuberculosis relapse (OR=5.56, 95%CI: 1.18–26.26).Conclusions: Body mass index and population density were inversely associated with pulmonary tuberculosis relapses in Cali. On the contrary, alcohol consumption increased the likelihood of tuberculosis relapses.

Arboviruses are responsible for a large burden of disease globally and are thus subject to intense epidemiological scrutiny. However, a variable notably absent from most epidemiological analyses has been the impact of violence on arboviral transmission and surveillance. Violence impedes surveillance and delivery of health and preventative services and affects an individual’s health-related behaviors when survival takes priority. Moreover, low and middle-income countries bear a disproportionately high burden of violence and related health outcomes, including vector borne diseases. To better understand the epidemiology of arboviral outbreaks in Cali, Colombia, we georeferenced chikungunya (CHIKV), dengue (DENV), and Zika (ZIKV) viral cases from The National System of Surveillance in Public Health between October 2014 and April 2016. We extracted homicide data from the municipal monthly reports and kernel density of homicide distribution from IdeasPaz. Crucially, an overall higher risk of homicide is associated with increased risk of reported DENV, lower rates of acute testing, and higher rates of lab versus clinical discordance. In the context of high violence as a potential barrier to access to preventive health services, a community approach to improve health and peace should be considered.