Ocular Toxocariasis in Parasitology Consultation in Quindío, Colombia: Description of Cases and Contact Studies

We report diagnosis, treatment and evolution of cases of ocular toxocariasis in specialized consultation in Quindío, Colombia. No cases were seen during the 2000-17 period, but five cases were confirmed from November 2017 to March 2019; two children resulted with definitive loss of vision on the affected eye. Studies in contacts found that 12 of 19 (63%) family members and 15 of 25 (60%) children <15 years of age living on the same street were positive for IgG Toxocara antibodies. Epidemiological studies are necessaries to establish the reasons for the increase in cases at this region.

[Zoonotic vaccinia in Colombia: Cumulative evidence of the emergence of poxviruses in the world]

The recent occurrence of vaccinia virus infections in humans and animals in Colombia, together with that reported for this and other species of the genus Orthopoxvirus in some South American, African, Asian and European countries, is supporting evidence of the emergence and re-emergence of the genus. This fact has become of great interest for public health around the world due to its biological and an epidemiological features, as was in the past the variola virus, one of its representatives. The emergence and re-emergence of the genus Orthopoxvirus may be a consequence of stopping vaccination against the variola virus in the 1970s and 1980s. This vaccination unsuspectedly induced cross-protective immunity to other species of that genus. This is a review of the history, biology and epidemiology of the main species of the genus Orthopoxvirus, together with its clinical presentation, social context and public health impact in the past, present and future.