title: Serological study of Trypanosoma cruzi, Strongyloides stercoralis, HIV, human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) and syphilis infections in asymptomatic Latin-American immigrants in Spain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to perform a serological screening for T. cruzi, Strongyloides stercoralis, HIV, human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) and syphilis in Latin American immigrants admitted to hospital in Spain.
  
  
  METHODS
  We have carried out a cross-sectional study of Latin American immigrants admitted to the Hospital General Universitario Alicante (Spain) from June 2012 to May 2014, where screening of Chagas disease, strongyloidiasis, HTLV, HIV and syphilis was performed by serology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total 180 patients were included in the study. Patients' median age was 38 years old, 123 (68.3%; 123/180) were female and 57 (31.7%; 57/180) male. Five of the 180 (2.5%) patients were positive for Chagas disease; associated with knowledge about Chagas disease (p=0.005), previous contact with patients with Chagas disease (p=0.04) and being Bolivian (p<0.001). Forty-two of the 157 (26.8%) patients were positive for Strongyloides serology; associated positively with being male (p<0.001), eosinophilia (p=0.001), hyper-IgE (p<0.001) and being Ecuadorian (p=0.001), and negatively associated with being Colombian (p=0.03). Positive serology of latent syphilis was found in 1.8% (3/171) of patients. Serology of HTLV was negative in all cases. No new cases of HIV infection were diagnosed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We propose that Latin American immigrant patients admitted to hospital in Spain be screened for strongyloidiasis, Chagas disease and syphilis by serology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante Spain Department of Clinical Medicine, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Spain jramosrincon@yahoo.es.
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante Spain.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: León
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain Department of Microbiology, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andreu
authors.affiliation: Service of Parasitology, National Centre for Microbiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Esperanza Rodríguez
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: de las Parras
authors.affiliation: Division of Microbiology, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain Department of Microbiology, Universidad Miguel Hernandez de Elche, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Díaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Ángel
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.affiliation: Service of Parasitology, National Centre for Microbiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Saugar
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante Spain.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Torrús
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D017171:Strongyloides stercoralis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013322:Strongyloidiasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D013587:Syphilis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000302:isolation & purification; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HIV; HTLV; Latin American; Strongyloides stercoralis; Trypanosoma cruzi