Individual and Spatial Risk of Dengue Virus Infection in Puerto Maldonado, Peru.

Dengue virus (DENV) affects more than 100 countries worldwide. Dengue virus infection has been increasing in the southern Peruvian Amazon city of Puerto Maldonado since 2000. We designed this study to describe the prevalence of past DENV infection and to evaluate risk factors. In 2012, we conducted a cross-sectional serosurvey and administered a knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) questionnaire to members of randomly selected households. Sera were screened for antibodies to DENV by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and confirmed by plaque reduction neutralization test. We created indices for KAP (KAPi). We used SaTScan (Martin Kulldorff with Information Management Services Inc., Boston, MA) to detect clustering and created a multivariate model introducing the distance of households to potential vector and infection sources. A total of 505 participants from 307 households provided a blood sample and completed a questionnaire. Fifty-four percent of participants (95% confidence interval [CI]: 49.6; 58.5) had neutralizing antibodies to DENV. Higher values of KAPi were positively associated with having DENV antibodies in the multivariate analysis (odds ratio [ORII]: 1.6, 95% CI: 0.6, 2.4; ORIII: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.3, 5.5; and ORIV: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 5.0). Older groups had lower chances of having been exposed to DENV than younger people (OR20-30: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.2, 0.8; OR31-45: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3, 0.9; and OR>45: 0.6, 95% CI: 0.3, 1.3). Multivariate data analysis from the 270 households with location information showed male gender to have lower risk of past DENV infection (OR: 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.9). We conclude that risk of DENV infection in Puerto Maldonado is related to gender, age of the population, and location

Clustering of Necropsy-Confirmed Porcine Cysticercosis Surrounding Taenia solium Tapeworm Carriers in Peru

The pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, is among the leading causes of preventable epilepsy in the world and is common in rural areas of developing countries where sanitation is limited and pigs have access to human feces. Prior studies in rural villages of Peru have observed clusters of T. solium cysticercosis among pigs that live near human tapeworm carriers. Such spatial analyses, however, have been limited by incomplete participation and substandard diagnostic tests. In this study, we evaluated the association between necropsy-confirmed cysticercosis in pigs and their distance to T. solium tapeworm carriers in six villages in northern Peru. A total of six (1.4%) tapeworm carriers were detected using copro-antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and seven of 10 (70%) pigs belonging to the tapeworm carriers were found with viable cyst infection on necropsy. This was significantly greater than the prevalence of viable cyst infection among pigs living \u3c 500 m (11%) and \u3e 500 m (0.5%) from a tapeworm carrier (P \u3c 0.001 for distance trend). Similar statistically significant prevalence gradients were observed after adjustment for possible confounders and for other pig-level outcomes including infection with \u3e 10 viable cysts, degenerated cyst infection, and serological outcomes. This investigation confirms that porcine cysticercosis clusters strongly around tapeworm carriers in endemic rural regions of northern Peru and supports interventions that target these hotspots

Human Coronavirus-Associated Influenza-Like Illness in the Community Setting in Peru

We present findings describing the epidemiology of non-severe acute respiratory syndrome human coronavirus-associated influenza-like illness from a population-based active follow-up study in four different regions of Peru. In 2010, the prevalence of infections by-human coronaviruses 229E, OC43, NL63, or HKU1 was 6.4% in participants with influenza-like illness who tested negative for influenza viruses. Ten of 11 human coronavirus infections were identified in the fall-winter season. Human coronaviruses are present in different regions of Peru and are relatively frequently associated with influenza-like illness in Peru

Burden of Influenza in 4 Ecologically Distinct Regions of Peru: Household Active Surveillance of a Community Cohort, 2009-2015.

BACKGROUND: There are limited data on the burden of disease posed by influenza in low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, most estimates of influenza disease burden worldwide rely on passive sentinel surveillance at health clinics and hospitals that lack accurate population denominators. METHODS: We documented influenza incidence, seasonality, health-system utilization with influenza illness, and vaccination coverage through active community-based surveillance in 4 ecologically distinct regions of Peru over 6 years. Approximately 7200 people in 1500 randomly selected households were visited 3 times per week. Naso- and oropharyngeal swabs were collected from persons with influenza-like illness and tested for influenza virus by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: We followed participants for 35353 person-years (PY). The overall incidence of influenza was 100 per 1000 PY (95% confidence interval [CI], 97-104) and was highest in children aged 2-4 years (256/1000 PY [95% CI, 236-277]). Seasonal incidence trends were similar across sites, with 61% of annual influenza cases occurring during the austral winter (May-September). Of all participants, 44 per 1000 PY (95% CI, 42-46) sought medical care, 0.7 per 1000 PY (95% CI, 0.4-1.0) were hospitalized, and 1 person died (2.8/100000 PY). Influenza vaccine coverage was 27% among children aged 6-23 months and 26% among persons aged ≥65 years. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that 1 in 10 persons develops influenza each year in Peru, with the highest incidence in young children. Active community-based surveillance allows for a better understanding of the true burden and seasonality of disease that is essential to plan the optimal target groups, timing, and cost of national influenza vaccination programs

Andes Hantavirus Variant in Rodents, Southern Amazon Basin, Peru

We investigated hantaviruses in rodents in the southern Amazon Basin of Peru and identified an Andes virus variant from Neacomys spinosus mice. This finding extends the known range of this virus in South America and the range of recognized hantaviruses in Peru. Further studies of the epizoology of hantaviruses in this region are warranted