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Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease caused by intracellular protozoa of the Leishmania genus that are spread and transmitted by sandflies. Natural infection and clinical disease in domestic cats and dogs appear to be rare or perhaps largely under-reported in endemic areas. However, previous reports on infected domestic animals usually implicate the same Leishmania species that affect humans in tropical and subtropical areas of the world suggesting a potential role for zoonotic transmission. In the present study we assessed a representative sample of cats and dogs from endemic urban / suburban areas of Lara state in central western Venezuela. In both dogs and cats, cutaneous disease exhibits a spectrum of manifestations that range from single papules or nodules, which may evolve into ulcerative, plaque-like or scaly lesions. Cytochrome b (cyt b) PCR gene sequence analysis revealed L. mexicana as the causative agent in all cases, including two human cases proceeding from the same study area at the same time the study was carried out. In order to improve our understanding on feline/canine infection with Leishmania mexicana, and address potential zoonotic concerns it is necessary to characterize its enzootic reservoirs and vectors as well as the possible anthropophilic players linking to the peridomestic and domestic cycles.

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Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus transmitted mainly by Aedes species of mosquitos. Although the infection is usually mild and self-limiting, it is emerging as a public health challenge in tropical and subtropical countries owing to its unprecedented pathogenicity and increased risk for fetal malformations and neurological symptoms. Cutaneous manifestations as for other mosquito-borne viruses remain a hallmark of the disease. This article provides a detailed overview on ZIKV infection, including its varied cutaneous clinical manifestations and diagnostic aspects, and also provides detailed insights into its pathogenesis in human skin.

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Zika virus is an emerging arbovirus, which is expanding in epidemic proportions through tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Although Zika is linked to a number of congenital and neurological complications, there is scarce knowledge on the impact of ZIKV infection in human skin. We report the case of a 68-year old woman who presented with generalized pustular psoriasis after a preceding and otherwise uneventful episode of ZIKV infection. Based on recent experimental data on the biology of ZIKV infection in the cutaneous environment, we speculate that ZIKV may have directly triggered the development of generalized pustular psoriasis by stimulation of keratinocyte-derived mediators of inflammation and a polyfunctional T-cell driven immune reaction in the cutaneous milieu.

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Post-chikungunya chronic inflammatory rheumatism (pCHIK-CIR) is one of the consequences that are impacting new endemic countries, such as those in the Americas. The relative frequency of pCHIK-CIR is highly variable, ranging from 14.4 % to 87.2 % (including variable number of patients and follow-up times). Based on those non-weighted values, it is difficult to estimate which would be the expected number of patients with CHIK who will develop CIR. For these reasons, we modeled weighted estimations based on pooled data extracted from those eight representative studies in order to provide cumulative proportion of pCHIK-CIR over time and median time of it, but also estimations of the number of patients with CHIK reported in Latin American countries (within a 95 % CI). This model estimated a prevalence of 47.57 % for pCHIK-CIR (95 % CI 45.08-50.13), with a median time to 50 % of pCHIK-CIR in 20.12 months. Given the reported number of patients with acute CHIK during 2014 in the Americas, our estimates suggest that from those patients, 385,835-429,058 patients will develop pCHIK-CIR. Despite the limitations of these estimates, the provided figures of pCHIK-CIR presented here are preliminary approximations of what the future burden of related rheumatic disease in the region as a consequence of CHIK infection for 2015-2016 could be, given the timeframe of median time of occurrence.

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American cutaneous leishmaniasis is an endemic anthropozoonosis that exhibits a broad spectrum of clinical presentations. Intermediate/borderline disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis is a distinct clinical condition that comprises cutaneous disease of a chronic nature, usually occurring as multiple lesions with or without mucosal involvement. The disease is usually caused by parasites of the subgenus Viannia, frequently occurs in context of an underlying disease, and is often resistant to standard antileishmanial therapy. We report a case that was refractory to standard therapy and other second-line drugs, but resolved after treatment with fluconazole, and review the use of fluconazole as a second-line drug in children.

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Genotyping and molecular characterization of drug resistance mechanisms in Mycobacterium leprae enables disease transmission and drug resistance trends to be monitored. In the present study, we performed genome-wide analysis of Airaku-3, a multidrug-resistant strain with an unknown mechanism of resistance to rifampicin. We identified 12 unique non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) including two in the transporter-encoding ctpC and ctpI genes. In addition, two SNPs were found that improve the resolution of SNP-based genotyping, particularly for Venezuelan and South East Asian strains of M. leprae.

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