Oscar Salomon

• PhD MPH MSc
• National Institute of Tropical Medicine, Ministry of Health, Argentina

The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence and distribution of Bartonella species in companion animals, wildlife and their associated fleas in different landscapes of the Atlantic Forest ecoregion of Argentina, and to analyse the phylogenetic relationships between the Bartonella species identified in this study in addition to those found i...

Las enfermedades zoonóticas responden a dinámicas complejas, no lineales y multicomponentes. La degradación antropogénica de los ecosistemas naturales da origen a zonas de interfaz, donde existe un continuo entre la vida silvestre, los animales domésticos y las poblaciones humanas. Estas zonas pueden estar asociadas a un mayor riesgo de exposición...

To understand the ecoepidemiology of fleas and their interactions with domestic and wild animals, it is necessary to decode the cycles of flea abundance in relation to host species and environmental factors. The province of Misiones, known for its biodiversity and land use changes, provides an excellent study location. We assessed the diversity, pr...

Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis are the most relevant among pathogenic mycobacteria, both belonging to the M. tuberculosis complex (MTC). Samples of blood, liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs and caseous tubercles were collected from a free‐ranging juvenile black capuchin monkey ( Sapajus nigritus ) showing non‐specific signs of illnes...

Urbanization promotes habitat degradation because it involves irreversible processes that homogenize habitats and favor the exclusion of native species. This research evaluates rodent community structure at different levels of urbanization in Misiones, Argentina. We expect that rodent communities are less diverse in more highly urbanized areas and...

El virus de Oropouche (OROV) es un patógeno del género Orthobunyavirus, la familia Peribunyaviridae y la especie Orthobunyavirus oropoucheense que se transmite a través de los artrópodos. Se aisló por primera vez en isla Trinidad (Trinidad y Tabago) en 1955 y en 1961 se notificó en varios casos clínicos durante una epidemia en Belém (Brasil) que af...

Few cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome have been reported in northeastern Argentina. However, neighboring areas show a higher incidence, suggesting underreporting. We evaluated the presence of antibodies against orthohantavirus in small rodents throughout Misiones province. Infected Akodon affinis montensis and Oligoryzomys nigripes native rode...

American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is the most prevalent form of leishmaniasis, associated with an ulcerative and stigmatizing mucocutaneous pathology. This study assessed the incidence of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis in members of the Argentine Army who were exposed to sandfly bites in Iguazú National Park (INP), northeastern Argentina, d...

Migonemyia migonei (Franҫa, 1920) (Diptera: Psychodidae) belongs to the subfamily Phlebotominae, of epidemiological importance due to its role as a vector in leishmaniasis transmission cycles and its broad geographic distribution in South America. Few morphometric and genetic studies have demonstrated the existence of variability among geographical...

Objective: Dengue is the most important human vector-borne disease in terms of disease burden. A first dengue vaccine has recently been licenced, and others are in advanced stages of development. However, to date, none of these vaccines has achieved balanced efficacy and safety for all dengue serotypes. The aim of this systematic review and meta-an...

In the present study, the temporal dynamics of the main vector of Leishmania braziliensis, Nyssomyia whitmani, was measured by monthly captures of phlebotominae sandflies during 5 consecutive years (from 2011 to 2016) in the Paranaense region of South America. The captures were performed in environments where the human-vector contact risk is high:...

Migonemyia migonei (Franҫa 1920) is a Phlebotominae of epidemiological importance due to its role as a vector in leishmaniasis transmission cycles and its broad geographic distribution in South America. A few morphometric and genetic studies have demonstrated the existence of variability between geographically distant populations in Brazil. The aim...

The degree of host specificity of fleas varies from highly specific (monoxenous) to opportunistic (polyxenous). Specific parasite-host associations can be observed among some flea families and tribes and mammalian orders, such as fleas of the tribe Tritopsyllini (Ctenophthalmidae, Doratopsyllinae) and opossums (Didelphimorphia). Specimens of the fa...

RESUMEN La propagación de la Leishmaniasis Visceral (LV) ha sido reportada durante años en diferentes estados/provincias de países sudamericanos. Tarija, departamento fronterizo con Argentina, registró casos de Leishmaniasis Cutánea (LC) y propagación nororiental de la enfermedad a partir de 1998; las sospechas de la presencia de casos humanos de L...

Strategies for the prevention and control of commensal rodents would improve with be􀄴er knowledge of their response to environmental factors from different spatial scales. In this research we evaluated which different scales environmental characteristics determine rodent infestation levels in a subtropical urban to rural landscape gradient in Misio...

ABSTRACTOEl desparramar de Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) tiene estado reportado para años en diferenteestados/provincias de países sudamericanos. Tarija, un estado fronterizo con Argentina, registróCasos de leishmaniasis cutánea (LC) y propagación de la enfermedad hacia el noreste en 1998;Las sospechas de la presencia de casos humanos de LV en la zon...

We updated the distribution of Phlebotominae (Diptera: Psychodidae) species and human cases of leishmaniasis in the Province of Corrientes, Argentina. Evandromyia correalimai (Martins, Coutinho & Lutz, 1970) is a new record for the province, reported in the urban area of Santo Tomé. We include the currently known distribution map of Phlebotominae s...

We model the nocturnal patterns of the main vector of Leishmania braziliensis (Vianna) in the Paranaense region of South America, Nyssomyia whitmani (Antunes & Coutinho). Occurrence and abundance variation were analyzed by hourly periods, and in relation to sunrise and sunset to avoid differences in luminosity at fixed times throughout the year. Th...

Lutzomyia longipalpis and Nyssomyia whitmani were incriminated as vectors of Leishmania sp. Spatial heterogeneity together with seasonal changes in abundance constitute important elements for the understanding of the dynamics of vector populations, and there are fundamental for the development of adequate prevention and control strategies. The aim...

Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) are worldwide vectors of dengue and yellow fever viruses. These species coexist in many countries and the biotic interactions between them can influence their abundances and distributions. In Argentina, Ae. aegypti is widely distributed in the north and center regions of the country, with temper...

The leishmaniases are vector-borne diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania and transmitted by the bite of female phlebotomine sand flies. In the Americas, the transmission cycle is primarily zoonotic both for American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) endemic in 18 countries and American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) endemic to 13...

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an ancient endemic disease in Iran and continues to be a growing health threat to community development and the environment. This paper explains how to use the facilities of health centers for developing a laboratory network on vectors and reservoir hosts of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran. Methods: A liter...

El género Bartonella comprende bacterias gramnegativas transmitidas por vectores que infectan los eritrocitos y las células endoteliales de los mamíferos hospedadores. Los roedores son reservorios naturales de muchas especies de Bartonella, y las pulgas (Siphonaptera) tienen un rol clave, ya que demuestran una gran eficacia enel ciclo de transmisió...

Abstract Yellow fever (YF) epizootics in South America during the 21st century have an unprecedented recorded magnitude and geographical dispersion. The YF spread progressively involved areas considered previously free of risk reaching the edge of cities with large unvaccinated populations, and urban outbreaks were frequently forecasted. We critica...

We developed an integrated vector surveillance (IVS) proposal for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in the Americas, based on eco-epidemiological studies conducted by researchers of the Leishmaniasis Research Network of Argentina. For CL, the transmission was explained in the framework of the edge effect, the increase of...

In this work we assessed the environmental factors associated with the spatial distribution of a cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) outbreak during 2015-2016 in north-eastern Argentina to understand its typical or atypical eco-epidemiological pattern. We combined locations of human CL cases with relevant predictors derived from analysis of remote sensing...

Haemagogus leucocelaenus (Diptera: Culicidae) is considered the primary vector of yellow fever virus (Flaviviridae) in wild environments in South America. Previous research has defined Hg. leucocelaenus as a wild species with phytotelmata-type breeding sites. The objective of this study was to report the temporal and space occurrence of Hg. leucoce...

Phlebotominae are small insects distributed in the Americas from Canada to Argentina and Uruguay, counting with more than 500 neotropical species. Some of them have a vectorial role in the transmission of Leishmania Ross, the causative agent of leishmaniases, a group of worldwide distributed diseases with different clinical manifestations and trans...

A cross-sectional survey to assess the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis infection and its associated factors among the child population of infant, preschool and school age in the urban, rural and indigenous population of Iguazú city, in subtropical Argentina was presented. Additionally, the status of enterobiasis at country level was reviewed...

Orthohantaviruses (genus Orthohantavirus, family Hantaviridae) are the etiologic agents of Han-tavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in the Americas. In South America, orthohantaviruses are highly diverse and arehosted by sigmodontine rodents (subfamiliy Sigmodontinae, family Cricetidae), an also diverse group ofrodents. The aims of this work were to (1) iden...

Apparently, the eastern Amazon region has the greatest biodiversity of Leishmania spp and Phlebotominae. Our objective is to present the review of the knowledge of leishmaniasis in Pando-Bolivia, border with Acre and Rondonia-Brazil and Madre de Dios-Peru, through the analysis of eco-epidemiological indicators, institutional reports, theses, and me...

The scarce information about breeding sites of phlebotomines limits our understanding of the epidemiology of tegumentary leishmaniasis. Identifying the breeding sites and seasons of immature stages of these vectors is essential to propose prevention and control strategies different from those targeting the adult stage. Here we identified the rural...

Background Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a zoonotic protozoal vector-borne disease that is a major public health challenge. In Argentina, canine (CVL) and human visceral leishmaniasis (HVL) have recently emerged. There is a lack of standardised diagnostic tests for CVL, which hinders control of CVL and HVL. Methodology/Principal findings Sampling...

Objective. Determine and characterize potential risk areas for the occurrence of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in Latin America (LA). Method. Ecological observational study with observation units defined by municipalities with CL transmission between 2014-2018. Environmental and socioeconomic variables available for at least 85% of the municipalitie...

Objetivo. Determinar y caracterizar áreas de riesgo potencial de la ocurrencia de leishmaniasis cutánea (LC) en América Latina (AL). Método. Estudio observacional ecológico con unidades de observación definidas por municipios con transmisión de LC entre 2014-2018. Se utilizaron variables medioambientales y socioeconómicas disponibles para al menos...

Se realizó un estudio entomológico y clínico-epidemiológico descriptivo de la serie de casos de erucismo ocurridos entre 2015 y 2018 en el Municipio de San Ignacio, Misiones, Argentina, debido al aumento extraordinario de accidentes informados por fuentes no sistemáticas. Con el fin de conocer la etiología, aspectos epidemiológicos, sintomatología...

INTRODUCTION In Bolivia, before 1982 there were no records of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases that would allow us to review and describe the temporospatial occurrence of VL by ecoregions in provinces and departments of Bolivia to evaluate its impact on public health, risk of outbreaks, or dispersion. METHODS This update on VL in Bolivia is based...

Background: In South America, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are emerging diseases, expanding in the border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Outbreaks of CL were reported since the 1990s, with Nyssomyia whitmani as the main vector in this region. Regarding VL, urban reports started in 2010 with Lutzomyia longip...

Giardia is a parasite distributed worldwide and one of the most prevalent intestinal protozoa in Argentina. We analysed all the national information regarding the prevalence of Giardia infections in humans, animals and environmental surveys over the last 40 years. In this work, we used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analy...

Background: The Nyssomyia genus and Lutzomyia subgenus include medical important species that are Latin American leishmaniases vectors. Little is known about the phylogenetic relationships of closely-related species in each of these taxonomic groups that are morphologically indistinguishable or differentiated by very subtle details. Objectives:...

Lutzomyia longipalpis (Lutz & Neiva) is the main vector of Leishmania infantum (Nicolle) in America, associated in turn with the current spread and urbanization of American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL). The vector distribution in AVL foci shows a spatial-temporal clustering despite the different epidemiological contexts. The factors associated with...

Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) distribution is bounded to a subtropical area in Argentina, while Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) covers both temperate and subtropical regions. We assessed thermal and photoperiod conditions on dormancy status, development time and mortality for these species from subtropical Argentina. Short days (8 light...

Leishmaniases are a global health problem and in Argentina are considered emerging diseases. The new transmission scenarios of tegumentary leishmaniasis are especially important given that large areas of forest are being transformed into rural and urban systems. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the construction of a large public b...

Introducción. En 1997, en el departamento de Tarija, Bolivia, situado en la frontera con Argentina, se notificó por primera vez la presencia de pacientes con úlceras en las partes descubiertas de la piel, cuyas características clínicas y epidemiológicas correspondían a leishmaniasis. Objetivo. Describir y comprobar la presencia de leishmaniasis en...

Objective To estimate trends in the prevalence of child stunting in the population of children under 5 years of age covered by public health programmes, between 2009 and 2014 in Misiones, Argentina. Methods Using Bayesian model‐based geostatistics, we evaluated 724 872 anthropometric measurements corresponding to 110 633 children. In order to iden...

Parasitological surveys of non-human primates provides an important opportunity to better understand the epidemiology, transmission dynamics and emergence risk of anthropozoonoses such as leishmaniasis, which affect human populations in several regions accross South America. Our study area, in northeastern Argentina, can be considered a southern ma...

To diagnose dogs infected by Leishmania infantum rK39 rapid diagnosis test is widely used in the Americas, while dual path platform (DPP) was recently adopted by Brazil. In this study we assessed the performance of rK39-RDT and DPP tests in recent urban transmission scenarios of Argentina. The sensitivity and specificity were evaluated with a sera...

Integrated vector management (IVM) is defined as “a rational decision-making process to optimize the use of resources for vector control,” which enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of national and subnational vector control programs. This strategy provides program managers with long-term control methods that are sustainable and environmentall...

Outbreaks of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ACL) are triggered by the confluence of multidimensional biological, climate, and social factors: the eco-epidemiological momentum. Despite the diversity of epidemiological scenarios, there are common "Ingredients for the recipe" to make an ACL outbreak. To describe the "Where", "When", and "Why" of th...

American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL) has two main scenarios of transmission as follows: scattered cases in rural areas and urban outbreaks. Urban AVL is in active dispersion from the northeastern border of Argentina-Paraguay-Brazil to the South. The presence of Lutzomyia longipalpis was initially reported in urban environments in the northwestern...

Integrated vector management and effective control of vector borne diseases

Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis (CVL) prevalence, spatial distribution and associated factors were assessed in four locations in Iguazú department in 2014 and in Puerto Iguazú city again in 2018. The city areas were divided into a grid of 400x400m cells. All cells were sampled in 2014 and a random subsampling was developed in 2018. In each cell, five...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of Lutzomyia longipalpis in the Argentine city of Concordia, in the province of Entre Rios, without record of this species despite previous samplings, but with canine cases of visceral leishmaniasis and Lu. longipalpis reports both, from Northern Argentine localities and from the city of Salt...

Introduction: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an emerging parasitic disease in Argentina. In Puerto Iguazú, border with Brazil and Paraguay, vector and canine cases were registered in 2010; and in 2014 and 2015 there were two human cases. Objective: The objective of this article is to analyze changes at the micro-scale level after informing the coha...

Every year about 3 million tourists from around the world visit Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay´s triple border region where the Iguaçu Falls are located. Unfortunately, in recent years an increasing number of autochthonous canine and human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases have been reported. The parasite is Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum and it...

The territory located in the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay is endemic for tegumentary leishmaniasis (TL). However, Lutzomyia longipalpis first report in the area was in 2010-Argentina, in 2012-Brazil, and no records in the Paraguayan border despite of reports of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases. Therefore, we developed a research...

Background: Current recommendations about dengue vaccination by the World Health Organization depend on seroprevalence levels and serological status in populations and individuals. However, seroprevalence estimation may be difficult due to a diversity of factors. Thus, estimation through models using data from epidemiological surveillance systems...

To contribute to the knowledge of the role of small mammals in the transmission cycle of tegumentary leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania braziliensis, we studied the small mammal community and its temporal and spatial association with phlebotominae, as well as small mammal infection by Leishmania spp. by PCR-RFLP analyses in an endemic area of north...

Background Intestinal parasitoses are a major concern for public health, especially in children from middle and low-income populations of tropical and subtropical areas. We examined the presence and co-infection of parasites in humans as well as parasitic environmental contamination in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. We explored the environmental and soc...

Environment univariate analysis. Univariate GLM developed for predicting parasite contamination (left) and co-contamination (right) in the environment at the Iguazú area. Selected variables for representing each group in further model combinations and model selection are in bold. (DOCX)

Model selection for co-contamination in the environment. Summary of the model selection procedure for the environmental risk assessment for predicting the parasite co-contamination (number of species of parasites) at the Iguazú Municipality. (DOCX)

Children univariate analysis. Univariate GLM developed for predicting parasite presence (left) and co-infection (right) in the child population of the Iguazú area. Selected variables for representing each group in further model combinations and model selection are in bold. (DOCX)

Model selection for children infection with parasites. Summary of the mixed effects model selection procedure for selecting the best parsimonious model for predicting parasite infection in the children population of Iguazú area. The Δ column depicts the difference between a model’s Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) and that of the best-fitting m...

Confidence intervals for co-contamination risk maps. Maps representing the co-contamination level predicted by the final model for the environmental contamination by parasites showing a) the lower 95% confidence interval; b) the final model; c) the upper 95% confidence interval. (TIF)

Local scale variables. List of variables utilized for describing the environmental conditions at a local scale. (DOCX)

Individual level variables. List of variables utilized for describing the children conditions at the individual level. (DOCX)

Model selection for parasite presence in the environment. Summary of the model selection procedure for the environmental risk assessment for predicting the presence of parasites at the Iguazú Municipality. (DOCX)

Model selection for predicting children multi-parasitoses. Summary of the mixed effects model selection procedure for selecting the best parsimonious model for predicting co-infection level in the children population of Iguazú area. The Δ column depicts the difference between a model’s Akaike’s Information Criterion (AIC) and that of the best-fitti...

Landscape scale variables. List of variables utilized for describing the environmental conditions at a landscape scale. (DOCX)

Household level variables. List of variables utilized for describing the household conditions. (DOCX)

PHCC level variables. List of variables utilized for describing the conditions of the PHCC area. (DOCX)

BACKGROUND Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an endemic disease in northeastern Argentina including the Corrientes province, where the presence of the vector and canine cases of VL were recently confirmed in December 2008. OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to assess the modelling of micro- and macro-habitat variables to evaluate the urban en...

Objective: To assess the potential occurrence of Zika transmission throughout Argentina by the mosquito Aedes aegypti considering the basic reproduction number (R0). Methods: A model originally developed for dengue was adapted for Zika. R0 was estimated as a function of seven parameters, three of them were considered temperature-dependent. Seaso...

To investigate knowledge of school-aged children and their perception on intestinal parasites, and to assess knowledge reconstruction on prevention practices after specific training in the subject. We performed an activity package that included the analysis of children's drawings of intestinal parasites, and information and communication technologi...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of insecticide-impregnated curtains against the entry of phlebotomine (Diptera: Psychodidae) flies into experimental slatted hen houses in an area endemic for American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL). Three treatments in experimental dwellings containing three chickens each were applied using, r...

En 1878, Lynch Arribálzaga publicó la descripción de tres especies de mosquitos colectados en Argentina, dando inicio a las investigaciones sobre los Culicidae en el país. Años después, en 1891, publicó Dipterología Argentina, convirtiéndose en una referencia para los investigadores que lo sucedieron debido a que les dedicó una gran atención a los...

Se define una unidad de actividad enzimática como la cantidad de proteína que causa un incremento de 0,005 unidad de absorbancia por minuto a 450 nm. Se define una unidad de actividad enzimática como la velocidad de disminución de absorbancia a 558 nm, que equivale a la cantidad de proteína que causa una disminución de una unidad de absorbancia por...

Parasitoides de orugas de importancia sanitaria criadas en laboratorio: hallazgos preliminares. OD Salomón1, D Soto1, R Dios2, A López1, MM Martínez1, M Antunez1, MA Quintana1, ME Peichoto1 1Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Argentina. 2Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil. Algunas larvas (orugas) de mariposas/polillas nocturnas (Lepidóptera) p...

Accidente P. fuscescens Hallazgo Este trabajo evidencia una amplia diversidad y distribución de orugas de importancia sanitaria en San Ignacio y sirve de base para desarrollar intervenciones de prevención. Las orugas de lepidópteros poseen cerdas especializadas como defensa contra los depredadores, las cuales en contacto con la piel humana pueden p...

A retrospective analytical method is presented, based on theoretical eco-epidemiology, applied on a subnational spatial scale. This method was used here to describe scenarios for the transmission of leishmaniasis in the Argentine province of Misiones-bordering Brazil and Paraguay-and formed the basis for recommendations for surveillance and control...

The transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi by vectors is confined to the Americas, and the infection circulates in at least two broadly defined transmission cycles occurring in domestic and sylvatic habitats. This study sought to detect and characterize infection by T. cruzi and other trypanosomes using PCR strategies in blood samples from free-ranging...

Dengue outbreaks have occurred yearly in Argentina since 1998. A number of candidate vaccines have been tested in endemic countries. The most advanced one was licensed in three countries of Latin America for children over 9 years of age. In the present article the benefits and drawbacks of these vaccines as well as the challenges for the implementa...

The aim of this study is to describe the nematode cysts and larvae found in Achatina fulica, the giant African snail, in the northeast of Argentina. A total of 373 snails were collected from the cities of Puerto Iguazu and Corrientes. Cysts (N= 2958) containing nematodes identified as L3 Strongyluris sp. were found in the mantle cavity of 87 snails...

Ninety-five veronicellid slugs identified as Phyllocaulis variegatus were collected in Puerto Iguazú, Misiones Province, Argentina. Specimens were examined for parasites. Metacercariae of the genus Brachylaima (Brachylaimidae) were recovered from the body cavity near the female genital pore. The results establish the capability of P. variegatus to...