Tuberculosis (TB) transmission results from the interaction between infective sources and susceptible individuals within enabling socio-environmental conditions. As TB is an airborne pathogen, the transmission probability is determined by the volume of air inhaled from an infected source and the concentration of Mycobacterium tuberculosis containing respirable particles (doses) per volume of ai...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The World Health Organisation has recommended repeated mass treatment of children in trachoma endemic areas with oral azithromycin. While chlamydia, the causative agent of trachoma, remains universally sensitive to azithromycin, there is concern that large scale programmes may alter the bacterial flora and induce resistance in streptococcal species. In this study the effect of a...

Enlargements of the thyroid gland known as goiters appear in artworks and artifacts of many cultures. They are represented in sculptures, bas-reliefs, masks, waxes, mosaics, bronzes, stained glass windows, paintings and drawings of the last two millennia. These are described in several monographs and in Merke's scholarly History and Iconography of Endemic Goitre and Cretinism (Barbieri 1993, Gi...

BACKGROUND Scrub typhus is an endemic disease in Asia. It has been a rural disease, but indigenous urban cases have been observed in Seoul, South Korea. Urban scrub typhus may have a significant impact because of the large population. METHODS Indigenous urban scrub typhus was epidemiologically identified in Seoul, the largest metropolitan city in South Korea, using national notifiable disease...

American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is an endemic disease in northern Paraná State, where it affects humans and dogs. This study aimed to verify the occurrence of the canine disease in ACL endemic areas. From September 1999 to July 2002, dogs were investigated in 7 rural areas of 5 municipalities where autochthonous human cases of ACL had been reported. Parasitological and serological method...

Endemic goiter is widely prevalent in the countries of Southeast Asia; the Himalayan endemic is one of the world's most extensive and severe endemics. It is accompanied in many areas of this region by endemic cretinism, deaf-mutism, and other developmental disorders and thus constitutes a significant health problem. For many years the etiology and pathogenesis of goiter in the Himalayas had rem...

Trachoma, a chronic keratoconjunctivitis caused by the intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, is the leading infectious cause of blindness and affects the most underprivileged populations worldwide. An estimated 1.3 million people have been blinded, and there are more than 50 trachoma-endemic countries, mainly in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia [1,2]. In Latin America, countries such ...

Long-term exposure to ingested arsenic from drinking water has been well documented to be associated with an increased risk of diabetes mellitus and hypertension in a dose-response relationship among residents of arseniasis-endemic areas in southwestern Taiwan and Bangladesh. An increased risk of self-reported hypertension but not diabetes was reported in a community-based study of residents wh...

BACKGROUND The karst regions in South China have an abundance of endemic plants that face high extinction risks. The Chinese Gesneriaceae endemic Paraisometrum mileense ( = Oreocharis mileensis), was presumed extinct for 100 years. After its re-discovery, the species has become one of five key plants selected by the Chinese forestry government to establish a new conservation category for plants...

Two new species of Lygaeinae endemic to the Peninsula of Baja California, Mexico, are described. Dalmochrimnus insularis sp. nov. endemic to San Ildefonso Island in the Gulf of California and Melacoryphus lagunensis sp. nov. endemic to the Reserve area of Sierra La Laguna in the South of the Peninsula. A discussion about their relationships within their genera and their endemic status is also p...