Little data are available on how HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) affect indigenous people in Latin America, including Peru. We conducted a sero-epidemiologic survey of HIV infection and syphilis in a native community, the Chayahuita, an indigenous population in the Amazon region of Peru. The seroprevalences of HIV and syphilis in adults were 7.5% (6 of 80) and 6.3% (5 of 80), respectively. None of the participants had ever used a condom. Male to male sexual behavior was common. At the current levels of HIV prevalence, there is the risk of a negative impact on the survival of the Chayahuita ethnic group as a whole. The outcomes of this study highlight the need for urgent medical and anthropologic approaches to stop HIV transmission in indigenous Amazonian communities.
Studies have suggested that enzootic strains of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) subtype ID in the Amazon region, Peru, may be less pathogenic to humans than are epizootic variants. Deaths of 2 persons with evidence of acute VEE virus infection indicate that fatal VEEV infection in Peru is likely. Cases may remain underreported.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.