The author reviews the malaria research program in Sucre State, Venezuela, taking an ecosystem approach. The goal was to determine which methods could have been introduced at the onset that would have made the study more ecological and interdisciplinary. Neither an ecosystem approach nor integrated disease control were in place at the time of the study. This study began to introduce an ecosyste...

OBJECTIVES Scorpion envenomation is a common public health problem in Venezuela. We report an envenoming case by Tityus breweri, endemic to the Guayana Shield, southeast Venezuela, and the outcome of its treatment with antivenom anti-Tityus discrepans. Toxin composition and antigenic reactivity of T breweri venom were also explored. T breweri distribution range was re-evaluated. METHODS Clini...

Aim Numerous geographical information system (GIS)-based techniques for estimating a species’ potential geographical distribution now exist. While a species’ potential distribution is more extensive than its documented range, the lack of records from some suitable regions may simply derive from inadequate sampling there. Using occurrence records of both the study species and the more inclusive ...

ABSTRACT The basidiomycetous fungus Rhizoctonia solani anastomosis group (AG)-1 IA is a major pathogen in Latin America causing sheath blight (SB) of rice. Particularly in Venezuela, the fungus also causes banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB) on maize, which is considered an emerging disease problem where maize replaced traditional rice-cropping areas or is now planted in adjacent fields. Our g...

At the Venezuela National Astronomical Observatory we are carrying out variability surveys spanning many hundreds of square degrees near the celestial equator, using an 8k x 8k CCD Mosaic Camera optimized for drift-scanning on a 1m Schmidt telescope. Among the initial efforts was a project to obtain the first moderately deep, homogeneous sample of young stars over an area of ∼ 180sqr.deg. encom...

Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 13, No. 8, August 2007 1267 mild and the patient responded well to antimicrobial drug therapy, albeit without catheter removal. This case emphasizes that environmental bacteria can be an emerging threat for hemodialysis patients, who are at risk of acquiring opportunistic infection. In addition, this report demonstrates the usefulness of mol...

Within the context of the nascent e-Science infrastructure in Venezuela, we describe several web-based scientific applications developed at the Centro Nacional de Cálculo Cient́ıfico Universidad de Los Andes (CeCalCULA), Mérida, and at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cient́ıficas (IVIC), Caracas. The different strategies that have been followed for implementing quantum chemistry and a...

OBJECTIVE To report recent data on the distribution of human and canine visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in Venezuela, and to highlight problems associated with effective control measures. METHODS We report the number of cases, incidence rate, age and sex distribution, and mortality rates for human VL (HVL) for the period of 1995 through 2000, based on National Registry of Leishmaniasis data. We c...

The Gulf of Paria is bordered by both Trinidad and Venezuela, from which various metallic pollutants and other contaminants can originate. The Gulf is still a significant source of fish, crabs and shellfish for human consumption to both countries, where concerns over the quality of this marine environment have been long expressed but never properly addressed. In addition, the circulatory curren...