A focal outbreak of highly fatal disease occurred in eastern Costa Rica in 1974. No rickettsial spotted fevers have previously been reported in Costa Rica. Nevertheless, the available evidence points to an unidentified rickettsial pathogen, probably of the spotted fever group, as the agent responsible for this outbreak.

ABSTRACT The diversity of 42 Xylella fastidiosa strains from Costa Rica, São Paulo, Brazil, and the United States were analyzed using the sequence of the 16S rRNA gene by variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) fragment analysis and by restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) of a specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplification product using enzyme CfoI. Limited variability in th...

The Phanuromyia galeata species group is delineated and its species richness explored for the first time (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae, Telenominae). Fifteen species are described, all of which are new: Phanuromyia comata Nesheim & Masner, sp. n. (Brazil), P. constellata Nesheim, sp. n. (Paraguay), P. corys Nesheim & Masner, sp. n. (Brazil), P. cranos Nesheim & Masner, sp. n. (Bolivia, Costa Ric...

Objectives. To estimate and compare disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) and current age patterns of disability onset and recovery from disability between the United States and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Method. Disability is measured using the activities of daily living scale. Data come from longitudinal surveys of older adult populations in Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto ...

A new species and subspecies of Idalus Walker are described from Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. Images of males and females and their genitalia are provided. Locality information and distribution maps for Costa Rica and for Guatemala are included. The biology and phylogeny of Idalus are discussed.

Three new species of Spiladarcha are described from Costa Rica, including S. puravida n. sp., S. septifera n. sp., and S. tuberculata n. sp. The genus Spiladarcha is reported from Costa Rica for the first time. Synapomorphies of Spiladarcha are revised. Photos of adult habitus and genitalia of known sexes are provided.

A new species of Hoplitimyia James, H. inbioensis sp. nov., is described from Costa Rica. A new genus, Panamamyia gen. nov. (type species P. silbergliedi sp. nov.) is described from Panama. Both taxa are very rare in collections, not having been taken during extensive Malaise trap surveys in Costa Rica.

Angiostrongylus costaricensis is a zoonotic parasitic nematode that causes abdominal or intestinal angiostrongyliasis in humans. It is endemic to the Americas. Although the mitochondrial genome of the Brazil taxon has been published, there is no available mitochondrial genome data on the Costa Rica taxon. We report here the complete mitochondrial genome of the Costa Rica taxon and its genetic d...

Accurate estimates of forest cover and forest fragmentation are critical for developing countries such as Costa Rica, which holds four to five percent of the world’s plant and bird species. We estimated forest cover for Costa Rica using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper satellite scenes acquired between 1986 and 1991. In 1991, 29 percent (ca 14,000 km2) of the land cover of Costa Rica was closed forest...

High cancer mortality in Costa Rica, especially stomach cancer mortality, has long attracted the attention of local doctors and statisticians. Nervertheless, as in many parts of the world with relatively young populations and limited resources, this matter has in the past been overshadowed by larger health problems, and the statistics that are available have received scant attention. Despite th...