HIV Prevalence in a Gold Mining Camp in the Amazon Region, Guyana

Palmer, Carol; Validum, L; Loeffke, Bernard; Laubach, Harold E.; Mitchell, Chris; Cummings, Rudy; Cuadrado, R.

doi:10.3201/eid0803.010261

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…All samples were identical at the nucleotide level to the Belem and Salvador-1 types. 44 48 HIV, 49 and dengue fever. 50 Most of the malaria cases are acquired in the interior region of the country, which is part of the South American Amazon basin.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Diversity of Plasmodium Vivax PVCSP and PVMSP 1 in Guyana, South America

Bonilla

Validum²,

Cummings³

et al. 2006

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Abstract. Approximately 55% of malaria infections in the Guyana Amazon region are attributed to Plasmodium falciparum while the other 45% are attributed to non-falciparum, mostly Plasmodium vivax. However, little is known about the P. vivax strain types circulating in the region. Using PCR for Plasmodium detection and two genetic markers specific to P. vivax to detect the polymorphic circumsporozoite protein (CSP) and the conserved 19-kDa region of the merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-1), we investigated the overall Plasmodium strain distribution and population diversity within P. vivax in isolates collected from the blood of infected individuals in the interior Amazon region of Guyana, South America. Out of a total of 250 samples positive for Plasmodium, P. vivax was detected in 30% (76/250) and P. falciparum was detected in 76% (189/250). Mixed infections containing both P. falciparum and P. vivax constituted 6% (15/250) of the total positive samples. Further analysis of P. vivax strains showed that 92% (56/61) of the P. vivax samples hybridized with a probe specific to type VK210, 39% (24/61) hybridized with a probe specific for type VK247, and 25% (15/61) hybridized with a probe specific for the P. vivax-like CS genotype. DNA sequencing of the 19-kDa C-terminal domain in block 13 of MSP-1 amplified from 61 samples from patients infected with P. vivax demonstrated that this region is highly conserved, and all samples were identical at the nucleotide level to the Belem and Salvador-1 types. No synonymous or nonsynonymous mutations were observed in this region of the gene, indicating that current vaccinedevelopment efforts based on the MSP-1 19 fragment would be applicable in Guyana.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Diversity of Plasmodium Vivax PVCSP and PVMSP 1 in Guyana, South America

Bonilla

Validum²,

Cummings³

et al. 2006

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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“…Such high population mobility has the potential to facilitate the transmission of HIV from urban to isolated, indigenous populations. At the same time, there is also the potential for miners to become infected with HIV through contact with the commercial sex workers who target the camps, creating another potential vector of viral transmission when they return to their communities of origin (Palmer et al , 2002).…”

Section: Migrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean Basin

2005

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After Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean Basin has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. The number of HIV cases in the region is likely to increase significantly over the next decade due to patterns of sexual behaviour, drug use, migration, and the sociocultural practices and legal and religious taboos which serve as barriers to safe sex, as well as stigma, shame, and denial which preclude many issues from being openly discussed and addressed. Studying the HIV epidemic in the Caribbean Basin is difficult, as efforts to synthesize information are often hampered by a lack of uniformity and availability of surveillance data in many parts of the region. In addition, behavioural surveillance is limited, and interventions addressing the cultural context of Caribbean populations are few in number. Overall, the geographic, political, cultural, and linguistic diversity of the Caribbean underscores the complexity of understanding broader regional patterns of HIV infection and developing and implementing targeted and appropriate responses.

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“…Alluvial gold-mining, which is by far the predominant gold-mining method applied within our study area (Rahm et al 2015), has dramatic direct and indirect environmental and social consequences: mercury poisoning of populations (de Kom et al 1998, Fréry et al 2001, Miller et al 2003; increased risk of malaria (Pommier de Santi et al 2016) and HIV transmission (Palmer et al 2002). It is also increasingly contributing to deforestation (Hammond et al 2007, Alvarez-Berríos andMitchell Aide 2015) which we assess in the present article.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%