Abstract
Carrion’s disease is a neglected tropical disease caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, a vector-borne pathogen restricted to the Andean valleys of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Carrion’s disease is a biphasic illness; in the acute phase the case-fatality rate can be as high as 88 %, related to high parasitemia, arriving to almost all erythrocytes, and secondary bacterial infections close related with the development of transient immunosuppression in the earlier illness phases. In addition, there are an undefined number of asymptomatic carriers that are reservoirs of the etiological agent of Carrion’s disease in endemic areas, they make take into account due to they are the perpetuators of this disease. The actual scenario of Carrion’s disease, in which the illness is arriving to new areas, due to the expansion of the vector’s distribution, suggests that now may be a crucial time to design a strategy focusing on its elimination.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-016-0197-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
In the late years of the 20th century the actions towards eradication of different illness were increased
The eradication of smallpox and advances towards the eradication of poliomyelitis have been some of the major goals achieved by vaccination campaigns, and at present, the eradication of illnesses such as malaria, elephantiasis, teniasis, measles, mumps, rubella and yaws are red marked on the international health agenda, being
It is important to give attention to several other neglected diseases, such as Carrion’s disease. This infectious disease is caused by Bartonella bacilliformis, a vector-borne pathogen restricted to the Andean valleys of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia [4]
Summary
In the last two centuries, the fight against infectious diseases has enormously progressed and the burden of a number of such diseases has dramatically been reduced, especially in developed countries. Gomes et al Infectious Diseases of Poverty (2016) 5:105 to chloramphenicol [8], in vitro studies have shown that B. bacilliformis may develop high resistance levels to almost all the aforementioned antibiotic agents [9, 10] It is perhaps this phenomenon that contributes to the high case-fatality rate of Carrion’s disease. This increase in infection may be related to the availability of diagnostic tools, vector expansion, climate change and human activities, such as the creation of new agricola areas or hydroelectric installations which may favours the lifecycle of Lutzomyia spp. or the creation of new roads and the increasing product trade, which may result in the accidental transfer of vectors to new areas, or due to the introduction of the illness into new areas by migrant populations from endemic regions This suggests that maybe a crucial time to design a strategy focusing on the elimination of Carrion’s disease
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