Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Panama

We describe a fatal pediatric case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Panama, the first, to our knowledge, since the 1950s. Diagnosis was established by immunohistochemistry, PCR, and isolation of Rickettsia rickettsii from postmortem tissues. Molecular typing demonstrated strong relatedness of the isolate to strains of R. rickettsii from Central and South America

Isolation of two antigenically distinct arthropod-borne viruses of group C in Panamá

Ministério da Saúde.Fundação Serviços de Saúde Pública. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, BrasilMinistério da Saúde.Fundação Serviços de Saúde Pública. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, BrasilMinistério da Saúde.Fundação Serviços de Saúde Pública. Instituto Evandro Chagas. Belém, PA, Brasil.Isolation of two new group C viruses, for which the names Madrid and Ossa are suggested, is reported. They are immunologically distinct from each other, but both are more closely related to Caraparu than to any other known group C virus. Each was obtained from the blood of a male entomological worker in a tropical rain forest in the province of Bocas del Toro, R.P., suffering from a self-limited acute febrile illness. These are the first reported isolations of group C viruses from Central America