Shigella spp infections in children living in the Metropolitan Region, Chile, during summer of 2004-2005 Background: Shigella spp is a frequent cause of diarrhea in children. Antimicrobials decrease the duration of diarrhea and pathogen excretion. However, the increasing resistance limits their therapeutic value. Aim: To study Shigella serotype distribution in the Metropolitan Region in Chile, and its relationship with severity of disease, antimicrobial resistance pattern and clonality. Material and methods: During summer 2004-2005, stool samples from children with diarrhea were collected in Cary Blair transport medium and cultured. Shigella isolates were serotyped using monoclonal and polyclonal commercial antibodies. In vitro activity of ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, chloramphenicol, cotrimoxazol, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone and azythromycin was determined by minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). Clonality was studied by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using XbaI as restriction enzyme. Results: One hundred thirty nine Shigella strains were isolated (77 S sonnei and 62 S flexneri). S sonnei and S flexneri 2a serotypes were responsible for 95% of episodes. Children aged 2-4 years, showed a greater incidence of Shigella infections and 77% of episodes were treated on an ambulatory basis. High resistance levels were observed for ampicillin, cotrimoxazole, amoxicillinclavulanic acid and chloramphenicol (67%, 60%, 56% and 45%, respectively). We found 11 resistance patterns and 61,2% of strains were multiresistant. There were multiple clones without a strict relationship with resistance patterns. Conclusions: Shigella infections in Metropolitan Region in Chile are associated to a restricted number of serotypes, representing a clonal expansion associated to different antimicrobial resistant patterns (

Objective. To provide information about seroprevalence and risk factors of Neospora caninum infection in bovines of central Chile. Material and Methods. The study population are small dairy farms that are part of a Government Technical Support Service (SAT) in the O´Higgins region in central Chile. Sera samples were collected from milking cows and analyzed by a commercial ELISA kit. Additionally, a questionnaire was applied to farmers to identify risk factors through logistic regression. Results. The farm level prevalence was found to be 67%, and within farms seroprevalence 55%. Abortion history (p= 0.037, OR=5.09), dogs feed source (p= 0.0429, OR=6), cattle drinking water source (p=0.034, OR=4.5) and abortions management (p=0.017, OR=7.43) were found as significant risk factors for infection. Conclusion. There is a high N. caninum seroprevalence in small SAT´s dairy farms in O´Higgins region. These results highlight the need of improving N. caninum surveillance, and the development of preventive measures to avoid losses related with this disease.