Abstract Diseases caused by free-living amoebae are opportunistic infections that can have a fatal course. They can cause very serious disseminated conditions with involvement of the central nervous system such as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. This infection has become more common in Latin America, although its recognition is late due to the similarity with other pathological conditions or because it is unusual to include it in the differential diagnosis. We report a fatal case of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis due to Balamuthia mandrillaris in a 10-year-old girl. We highlight the severity of the brain involvement and the lack of validated schemes for its treatment. Today in the world this infection is considered an emerging disease, influenced by climate change, which calls for being attentive to its presence.

Resumen Las enfermedades causadas por amebas de vida libre son infecciones oportunistas que pueden tener un curso fatal. Pueden producir afecciones diseminadas graves con compromiso del sistema nervioso central, como la encefalitis amebiana granulomatosa. Esta infección es cada vez más frecuente en América Latina, aunque se reconocen tardíamente debido a la similitud con otras patologías o porque es inusual incluirla en el diagnóstico diferencial. Comunicamos un caso fatal de una encefalitis amebiana granulomatosa por Balamuthia mandrillaris en una niña de 10 años. Destacamos la gravedad de la afectación cerebral y la falta de esquemas antimicrobianos validados para su tratamiento. Hoy en el mundo esta infección es considerada una enfermedad emergente, influenciada por el cambio climático, lo que llama a estar atentos a su presencia.

Background: Neurocysticercosis is the most prevalent parasitic disease of the central nervous system in Chile, where sporadic cases are reported, without information about the epidemiology or distribution of the disease. Aim: To identify the main risk zones for cysticercosis in Chile. Material and Methods: Analysis of hospital discharge databases between 2002 and 2019, available at the website of the Chilean Ministry of Health. Cases with B69 code of the tenth international classification of diseases were identified. Results: In the study period, there were 1752 discharges with the diagnoses of neurocysticercosis, ocular cysticercosis and cysticercosis of other sites. The ages of patients ranged from 0 to 89 years with a clustering between 30 and 59 years. Sixty two percent were males. The zone between the regions of Maule and Araucania concentrated 82% of cases. Conclusions: We identified the zone with the greatest concentration of cysticercosis in Chile, where preventive strategies should eventually be directed.

SUMMARY The frequency of anti-Toxocara spp. antibodies in individuals attended by the Centro de Salud Familiar in the coastal Niebla town, Chile, was related to the host and to environmental factors. IgG anti- Toxocara antibodies were detected with a commercial ELISA kit (SCIMEDX Corporation, USA). Samples with undetermined absorbance values were subjected to an additional ELISA standardized by the Instituto de Salud Pública, Chilean Health Ministry, a commercial ELISA (NOVATEC, Germany), and a commercial Western blot kit (LDBio Diagnostics, France). Hematological exams were performed using an automated blood counter and blood smears. Dog feces were collected from the ground along the main road in Niebla, including rural and urban locations. Ninety (25.4%) of the 355 examined individuals were positive by the ELISA test. The frequency of anti-Toxocara antibodies and the infection risk were significantly higher (p < 0.05) among those individuals ≥ 40 years old with respect to the 20-39 years old group, in individuals from rural locations, those who did not have a safe drinking water supply in the house or who presented blood eosinophilia. The proportion of positive samples of dog feces and the mean number of Toxocara canis eggs/g of feces in urban and rural areas were similar (p > 0.05).