Bermúdez Sergio E, Lyons Cirilo R, García Gleydis G, Zaldíva Yamitzel L, Gabster Amanda, Arteaga Griselda B
Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Panamá, Panamá
Biomedica. 2013 Sep;33 Suppl 1:31-7.
Since the middle of last century, cases of rickettsiosis have been found in Panamá when outbreaks of murine typhus and spotted fever were reported. Since then, little information exists about its prevalence in this country, since it is most often is misdiagnosed as another disease.
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the presence of Rickettsia infections in humans in three locations in Panamá. These locations are agricultural areas, near forested areas or those who work in zoo.
Three locations where chosen for this study: Tortí, El Valle de Antón and workers in the Summit Municipal Park in Panamá City. All volunteers signed an informed consent and answered a questionnaire. The samples were analyzed for the detection of rickettsial spotted fever and typhus group by the indirect immunofluorescence (using commercial kits) and antigens of Rickettsia rickettsii and R. amblyommii.
Blood samples were taken from 97 volunteers in Tortí (25), El Valle de Anton (37) and Summit Municipal Park (35). Of these, a total of 38 (39%) samples reacted to one of the two methods: eight (32%) in Tortí, 18 (48%) in El valle and 12 (34%) in Summit Municipal Park.
The results show a high prevalence of antibodies to Rickettsia belonging to the spotted fever group in each of the three study areas, in addition to presenting evidence of the typhus group Rickettsia in El Valle de Anton. These areas could be considered endemic for rickettsiosis as there are conditions for maintaining them.
自上世纪中叶以来，巴拿马报告鼠型斑疹伤寒和斑点热疫情时，就发现了立克次体病病例。从那时起，该国关于立克次体病流行情况的信息很少，因为它经常被误诊为其他疾病。
本文旨在证明巴拿马三个地区存在人类立克次体感染。这些地区是农业区、靠近林区或在动物园工作的地区。
本研究选择了三个地点：托尔蒂、安东山谷和巴拿马城首脑会议市政公园的工作人员。所有志愿者均签署了知情同意书并回答了一份问卷。通过间接免疫荧光法（使用商业试剂盒）以及立氏立克次体和安氏立克次体抗原，对样本进行分析以检测斑点热群和斑疹伤寒群立克次体。
从托尔蒂的25名、安东山谷的37名和首脑会议市政公园的35名志愿者身上采集了血样。其中，共有38份（39%）样本对两种方法中的一种有反应：托尔蒂有8份（32%），安东山谷有18份（48%），首脑会议市政公园有12份（34%）。
结果显示，在三个研究区域中，每个区域都有高比例的属于斑点热群的立克次体抗体，此外，在安东山谷还发现了斑疹伤寒群立克次体的证据。由于存在维持这些疾病的条件，这些地区可被视为立克次体病的地方性流行区。
