Epidemiology of Chagas disease in Mexico: an update.

With the continuing success of the Southern Cone Initiative against Chagas disease and steady progress of the Andean pact and Central American Initiatives, Mexico is among the last countries of Latin America to instigate a large-scale programme against Trypanosoma cruzi transmission. However, a national policy concerning Chagas disease control in Mexico has recently been developed. The Ministry of Health has approved a law about screening for anti-T. cruzi antibodies in the whole territory. Also, epidemiological surveillance and vector control programmes have started to inform regulation.     

The impact of Chagas disease control in Latin America: a review

Discovered in 1909, Chagas disease was progressively shown to be widespread throughout Latin America, affecting millions of rural people with a high impact on morbidity and mortality. With no vaccine or specific treatment available for large-scale public health interventions, the main control strategy relies on prevention of transmission, principally by eliminating the domestic insect vectors and control of transmission by blood transfusion. Vector control activities began in the 1940s, initially by means of housing improvement and then through insecticide spraying following successful field trials in Brazil (Bambui Research Centre), with similar results soon reproduced in S?o Paulo, Argentina, Venezuela and Chile. But national control programmes only began to be implemented after the 1970s, when technical questions were overcome and the scientific demonstration of the high social impact of Chagas disease was used to encourage political determination in favour of national campaigns (mainly in Brazil). Similarly, large-scale screening of infected blood donors in Latin America only began in the 1980s following the emergence of AIDS. By the end of the last century it became clear that continuous control in contiguous endemic areas could lead to the elimination of the most highly domestic vector populations - especially Triatoma infestans and Rhodnius prolixus - as well as substantial reductions of other widespread species such as T. brasiliensis, T. sordida, and T. dimidiata, leading in turn to interruption of disease transmission to rural people. The social impact of Chagas disease control can now be readily demonstrated by the disappearance of acute cases and of new infections in younger age groups, as well as progressive reductions of mortality and morbidity rates in controlled areas. In economic terms, the cost-benefit relationship between intervention (insecticide spraying, serology in blood banks) and the reduction of Chagas disease (in terms of medical and social care and improved productivity) is highly positive. Effective control of Chagas disease is now seen as an attainable goal that depends primarily on maintaining political will, so that the major constraints involve problems associated with the decentralisation of public health services and the progressive political disinterest in Chagas disease. Counterbalancing this are the political and technical cooperation strategies such as the "Southern Cone Initiative" launched in 1991. This international approach, coordinated by PAHO, has been highly successful, already reaching elimination of Chagas disease transmission in Uruguay, Chile, and large parts of Brazil and Argentina. The Southern Cone Initiative also helped to stimulate control campaigns in other countries of the region (Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru) which have also reached tangible regional successes. This model of international activity has been shown to be feasible and effective, with similar initiatives developed since 1997 in the Andean Region and in Central America. At present, Mexico and the Amazon Region remain as the next major challenges. With consolidation of operational programmes in all endemic countries, the future focus will be on epidemiological surveillance and care of those people already infected. In political terms, the control of Chagas disease in Latin America can be considered, so far, as a victory for international scientific cooperation, but will require continuing political commitment for sustained success.     

Prevalence of Chagas Disease in Latin-American Migrants Living in Europe: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background

Few studies have assessed the burden of Chagas disease in non-endemic countries and most of them are based on prevalence estimates from Latin American (LA) countries that likely differ from the prevalence in migrants living in Europe. The aim of this study was to systematically review the existing data informing current understanding of the prevalence of Chagas disease in LA migrants living in European countries.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies reporting prevalence of Chagas disease in European countries belonging to the European Union (EU) before 2004 in accordance with the MOOSE guidelines and based on the database sources MEDLINE and Global Health. No restrictions were placed on study date, study design or language of publication. The pooled prevalence was estimated using random effect models based on DerSimonian & Laird method.

Results

We identified 18 studies conducted in five European countries. The random effect pooled prevalence was 4.2% (95%CI:2.2-6.7%); and the heterogeneity of Chagas disease prevalence among studies was high (I2 = 97%,p<0.001). Migrants from Bolivia had the highest prevalence of Chagas disease (18.1%, 95%CI:13.9–22.7%).

Conclusions

Prevalence of Chagas in LA migrants living in Europe is high, particularly in migrants from Bolivia and Paraguay. Data are highly heterogeneous dependent upon country of origin and within studies of migrants from the same country of origin. Country-specific prevalence differs from the estimates available from LA countries. Our meta-analysis provides prevalence estimates of Chagas disease that should be used to estimate the burden of disease in European countries.     

Ecoepidemiology,short history and control of Chagas disease in the endemic countries and the new challenge for non-endemic countries

Chagas disease is maintained in nature through the interchange of three cycles: the wild, peridomestic and domestic cycles. The wild cycle, which is enzootic, has existed for millions of years maintained between triatomines and wild mammals. Human infection was only detected in mummies from 4,000-9,000 years ago, before the discovery of the disease by Carlos Chagas in 1909. With the beginning of deforestation in the Americas, two-three centuries ago for the expansion of agriculture and livestock rearing, wild mammals, which had been the food source for triatomines, were removed and new food sources started to appear in peridomestic areas: chicken coops, corrals and pigsties. Some accidental human cases could also have occurred prior to the triatomines in peridomestic areas. Thus, triatomines progressively penetrated households and formed the domestic cycle of Chagas disease. A new epidemiological, economic and social problem has been created through the globalisation of Chagas disease, due to legal and illegal migration of individuals infected by Trypanosoma cruzi or presenting Chagas disease in its varied clinical forms, from endemic countries in Latin America to non-endemic countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, particularly to the United States of America and Spain. The main objective of the present paper was to present a general view of the interchanges between the wild, peridomestic and domestic cycles of the disease, the development of T. cruzi among triatomine, their domiciliation and control initiatives, the characteristics of the disease in countries in the Americas and the problem of migration to non-endemic countries.     

Epidemiology of Chagas disease in non-endemic countries: the role of international migration

Human infection with the protozoa Trypanosoma cruzi extends through North, Central, and South America, affecting 21 countries. Most human infections in the Western Hemisphere occur through contact with infected bloodsucking insects of the triatomine species. As T. cruzi can be detected in the blood of untreated infected individuals, decades after infection took place; the infection can be also transmitted through blood transfusion and organ transplant, which is considered the second most common mode of transmission for T. cruzi. The third mode of transmission is congenital infection. Economic hardship, political problems, or both, have spurred migration from Chagas endemic countries to developed countries. The main destination of this immigration is Australia, Canada, Spain, and the United States. In fact, human infection through blood or organ transplantation, as well as confirmed or potential cases of congenital infections has been described in Spain and in the United States. Estimates reported here indicates that in Australia in 2005-2006, 1067 of the 65,255 Latin American immigrants (16 per 1000) may be infected with T. cruzi, and in Canada, in 2001, 1218 of the 131,135 immigrants (9 per 1000) whose country of origin was identified may have been also infected. In Spain, a magnet for Latin American immigrants since the 2000, 6141 of 38,777 to 339,954 [corrected] legal immigrants in 2003 (25 per 1000), could be infected. In the United States, 56,028 to 357,205 of the 7,20 million, legal immigrants (8 to 50 per 1000), depending on the scenario, from the period 1981-2005 may be infected with T. cruzi. On the other hand, 33,193 to 336,097 of the estimated 5,6 million undocumented immigrants in 2000 (6 to 59 per 1000) could be infected. Non endemic countries receiving immigrants from the endemic ones should develop policies to protect organ recipients from T. cruzi infection, prevent tainting the blood supply with T. cruzi, and implement secondary prevention of congenital Chagas disease.     

High prevalence anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies,among blood donors in the State of Puebla,a non-endemic area of Mexico

Blood transfusion is the second most common transmission route of Chagas disease in many Latin American countries. In Mexico, the prevalence of Chagas disease and impact of transfusion of Trypanosoma cruzi-contaminated blood is not clear. We determined the seropositivity to T. cruzi in a representative random sample, of 2,140 blood donors (1,423 men and 647 women, aged 19-65 years), from a non-endemic state of almost 5 millions of inhabitants by the indirect hemagglutination (IHA) and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests using one autochthonous antigen from T. cruzi parasites, which were genetically characterized like TBAR/ME/1997/RyC-V1 (T. cruzi I) isolated from a Triatoma barberi specimen collected in the same locality. The seropositivity was up to 8.5% and 9% with IHA and ELISA tests, respectively, and up to 7.7% using both tests in common. We found high seroprevalence in a non-endemic area of Mexico, comparable to endemic countries where the disease occurs, e.g. Brazil (0.7%), Bolivia (13.7%) and Argentina (3.5%). The highest values observed in samples from urban areas, associated to continuous rural emigration and the absence of control in blood donors, suggest unsuspected high risk of transmission of T. cruzi, higher than those reported for infections by blood e.g. hepatitis (0.1%) and AIDS (0.1%) in the same region.     

Update on oral Chagas disease outbreaks in Venezuela: epidemiological, clinical and diagnostic approaches

Orally transmitted Chagas disease has become a matter of concern due to outbreaks reported in four Latin American countries. Although several mechanisms for orally transmitted Chagas disease transmission have been proposed, food and beverages contaminated with whole infected triatomines or their faeces, which contain metacyclic trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi, seems to be the primary vehicle. In 2007, the first recognised outbreak of orally transmitted Chagas disease occurred in Venezuela and largest recorded outbreak at that time. Since then, 10 outbreaks (four in Caracas) with 249 cases (73.5% children) and 4% mortality have occurred. The absence of contact with the vector and of traditional cutaneous and Romana’s signs, together with a florid spectrum of clinical manifestations during the acute phase, confuse the diagnosis of orally transmitted Chagas disease with other infectious diseases. The simultaneous detection of IgG and IgM by ELISA and the search for parasites in all individuals at risk have been valuable diagnostic tools for detecting acute cases. Follow-up studies regarding the microepidemics primarily affecting children has resulted in 70% infection persistence six years after anti-parasitic treatment. Panstrongylus geniculatus has been the incriminating vector in most cases. As a food-borne disease, this entity requires epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that differ from those approaches used for traditional direct or cutaneous vector transmission.     

Reduction in morbidity and mortality from childhood diarrhoeal disease after species A rotavirus vaccine introduction in Latin America - a review

Countries in Latin America were among the first to implement routine vaccination against species A rotavirus (RVA). We evaluate data from Latin America on reductions in gastroenteritis and RVA disease burden following the introduction of RVA vaccine. Published literature was reviewed to identify case-control studies of vaccine effectiveness and population-based studies examining longitudinal trends of diarrhoeal disease reduction after RVA vaccine introduction in Latin American countries. RVA vaccine effectiveness and impact on gastroenteritis mortality and hospitalization rates and RVA hospitalization rates are described. Among middle-income Latin American countries with published data (Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador and Panama), RVA vaccine contributed to a gastroenteritis-associated mortality reduction of 22-41%, a gastroenteritis-associated hospitalization reduction of 17-51% and a RVA hospitalization reduction of 59-81% among children younger than five years of age. In Brazil and El Salvador, case-control studies demonstrated that a full RVA vaccination schedule was 76-85% effective against RVA hospitalization; a lower effectiveness of 46% was seen in Nicaragua, the only low-income country with available data. A growing body of literature offers convincing evidence of "real world" vaccine program successes in Latin American settings, which may be expanded as more countries in the region include RVA vaccine in their immunization programs.     

Chagas disease: current epidemiological trends after the interruption of vectorial and transfusional transmission in the Southern Cone countries

Chagas disease, named after Carlos Chagas who first described it in 1909, exists only on the American Continent. It is caused by a parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted to humans by blood-sucking triatomine bugs and by blood transfusion. Chagas disease has two successive phases, acute and chronic. The acute phase lasts 6 to 8 weeks. After several years of starting the chronic phase, 20% to 35% of the infected individuals, depending on the geographical area will develop irreversible lesions of the autonomous nervous system in the heart, esophagus, colon and the peripheral nervous system. Data on the prevalence and distribution of Chagas disease improved in quality during the 1980's as a result of the demographically representative cross-sectional studies carried out in countries where accurate information was not available. A group of experts met in Bras lia in 1979 and devised standard protocols to carry out countrywide prevalence studies on human T. cruzi infection and triatomine house infestation. Thanks to a coordinated multi-country program in the Southern Cone countries the transmission of Chagas disease by vectors and by blood transfusion has been interrupted in Uruguay in1997, in Chile in 1999, and in 8 of the 12 endemic states of Brazil in 2000 and so the incidence of new infections by T. cruzi in the whole continent has decreased by 70%. Similar control multi-country initiatives have been launched in the Andean countries and in Central America and rapid progress has been recorded to ensure the interruption of the transmission of Chagas disease by 2005 as requested by a Resolution of the World Health Assembly approved in 1998. The cost-benefit analysis of the investments of the vector control program in Brazil indicate that there are savings of US$17 in medical care and disabilities for each dollar spent on prevention, showing that the program is a health investment with good return. Since the inception in 1979 of the Steering Committee on Chagas Disease of the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases of the World Health Organization (TDR), the objective was set to promote and finance research aimed at the development of new methods and tools to control this disease. The well known research institutions in Latin America were the key elements of a world wide network of laboratories that received - on a competitive basis - financial support for projects in line with the priorities established. It is presented the time line of the different milestones that were answering successively and logically the outstanding scientific questions identified by the Scientific Working Group in 1978 and that influenced the development and industrial production of practical solutions for diagnosis of the infection and disease control.     

Chagas disease: control,elimination and eradication. Is it possible?

From an epidemiological point of view, Chagas disease and its reservoirs and vectors can present the following characteristics: (i) enzooty, maintained by wild animals and vectors, with broad occurrence from southern United States of America (USA) to southern Argentina and Chile (42ºN 49ºS), (ii) anthropozoonosis, when man invades the wild ecotope and becomes infected with Trypanosoma cruzi from wild animals or vectors or when the vectors and wild animals, especially marsupials, invade the human domicile and infect man, (iii) zoonosis-amphixenosis and exchanged infection between animals and humans by domestic vectors in endemic areas and (iv) zooanthroponosis, infection that is transmitted from man to animals, by means of domestic vectors, which is the rarest situation in areas endemic for Chagas disease. The characteristics of Chagas disease as an enzooty of wild animals and as an anthropozoonosis are seen most frequently in the Brazilian Amazon and in the Pan-Amazon region as a whole, where there are 33 species of six genera of wild animals: Marsupialia, Chiroptera, Rodentia, Edentata (Xenarthra), Carnivora and Primata and 27 species of triatomines, most of which infected with T. cruzi . These conditions place the resident populations of this area or its visitors - tourists, hunters, fishermen and especially the people whose livelihood involves plant extraction - at risk of being affected by Chagas disease. On the other hand, there has been an exponential increase in the acute cases of Chagas disease in that region through oral transmission of T. cruzi , causing outbreaks of the disease. In four seroepidemiological surveys that were carried out in areas of the microregion of the Negro River, state of Amazonas, in 1991, 1993, 1997 and 2010, we found large numbers of people who were serologically positive for T. cruzi infection. The majority of them and/or their relatives worked in piassava extraction and had come into contact with and were stung by wild triatomines in that area. Finally, a characteristic that is greatly in evidence currently is the migration of people with Chagas disease from endemic areas of Latin America to non-endemic countries. This has created a new dilemma for these countries: the risk of transmission through blood transfusion and the onus of controlling donors and treating migrants with the disease. As an enzooty of wild animals and vectors, and as an anthropozoonosis, Chagas disease cannot be eradicated, but it must be controlled by transmission elimination to man.     

Metallothionein-1 and nitric oxide expression are inversely correlated in a murine model of Chagas disease

Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, represents an endemic among Latin America countries. The participation of free radicals, especially nitric oxide (NO), has been demonstrated in the pathophysiology of seropositive individuals with T. cruzi. In Chagas disease, increased NO contributes to the development of cardiomyopathy and megacolon. Metallothioneins (MTs) are efficient free radicals scavengers of NO in vitro and in vivo. Here, we developed a murine model of the chronic phase of Chagas disease using endemic T. cruzi RyCH1 in BALB/c mice, which were divided into four groups: infected non-treated (Inf), infected N-monomethyl-L-arginine treated (Inf L-NAME), non-infected L-NAME treated and non-infected vehicle-treated. We determined blood parasitaemia and NO levels, the extent of parasite nests in tissues and liver MT-I expression levels. It was observed that NO levels were increasing in Inf mice in a time-dependent manner. Inf L-NAME mice had fewer T. cruzi nests in cardiac and skeletal muscle with decreased blood NO levels at day 135 post infection. This affect was negatively correlated with an increase of MT-I expression (r = -0.8462, p < 0.0001). In conclusion, we determined that in Chagas disease, an unknown inhibitory mechanism reduces MT-I expression, allowing augmented NO levels.     

The challenge of Chagas’ disease: Has the human pathogen,Trypanosoma cruzi,learned how to modulate signaling events to subvert host cells?

Chagas’ disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, is an urgent and highly prevalent danger that is endemic to Latin America, and which the research community continues to ignore. Each year, Chagas’ disease kills more people in Latin America compared to any other parasite-borne disease, including malaria. In addition, between 15 and 18 million people worldwide are afflicted with this potentially lethal disease. Despite these devastating numbers, less than 0.5% of worldwide research and development for neglected diseases was aimed at Chagas’ disease. The aim of this review is to draw the attention of biotechnologists to the intriguing parasite that causes Chagas’ disease, which is T. cruzi. Additionally, we would also like to convince the community that basic science research can have a profound impact on the diagnosis and treatment of Chagas’ disease. In this review, we introduce distinct features of T. cruzi such as its complex life cycle (e.g. the potentially infective extracellular amastigote form), its genome and genomics, as well as proteomic analysis of this parasite. Notably, the PIK pathway has been widely acknowledged as an excellent target for drug discovery to combat this pathogen. Furthermore we also describe how the identification and characterization of PIK genes can aid in neutralizing Trypanosoma infections.     

A cost-benefit analysis of Chagas disease control.

Chagas disease transmission can be effectively interrupted by insecticidal control of its triatomine bug vectors. We present here a simple model comparing the costs and benefits of such a programme, designed to eliminate domestic populations of Triatoma infestans throughout its known area of distribution over the seven southernmost countries of Latin America. The model has been simplified to require only four financial estimates relating to the unit cost of housing spraying and benefits due to avoidance of premature death in the acute phase of the disease, avoidance of supportive treatment and care in the chronic phase of the disease, and avoidance of corrective digestive and cardiac surgery. Except for these direct medical costs, all other potential benefits have been ignored. Nevertheless, the model shows that the direct financial benefits of such a programme would far outweigh the costs, and the project would support a remarkably high internal rate of return under the least optimistic estimates.     

Re-infestation of houses by Triatoma dimidiata after intra-domicile insecticide application in the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico

In most countries, Chagas disease transmission control remains based on domestic insecticide application. We thus evaluated the efficacy of intra-domicile cyfluthrin spraying for the control of Triatoma dimidiata, the only Chagas disease vector in the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico, and monitored potential re-infestation every 15 days for up to 9 months. We found that there was a re-infestation of houses by adult bugs starting 4 months after insecticide application, possibly from sylvatic/peridomicile areas. This points out the need to take into account the potential dispersal of sylvatic/peridomestic adult bugs into the domiciles as well as continuity action for an effective vector control.     

Neurocysticercosis in Mexico

Cysticercosis is caused by the establishment of Taenia solium larvae (cysticerci), mainly in the central nervous system (CNS) and skeletal muscle of humans and pigs, after ingestion of eggs shed in human faeces by the adult tapeworm (see centrepage diagram). Human neurocysticercosis - often a life-threatening disease - is increasingly recognized as a public health problem, especially in developing countries. Clinical incidence of neurocysticercosis can reach 7% in Mexico and 18% in the Ekari population of New Guinea, while prevalence in autopsies ranges from 0.4% to 3.6% in several countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa. Many cases have also been recently reported in the USA, usually in immigrants. In this review, Ana Flisser focuses on the problems of cysticercosis in Mexico, where the disease is now recognized as a priority both in public health and economic terms. Recognition of the problem has been greatly aided in recent years by new developments in diagnosis - especially computed tomography (CT) to diagnose early stages of neurocysticercosis - and by improved drug treatment.     

Chagas disease among the Latin American adult population attending in a primary care center in Barcelona, Spain

Background/Aims

The epidemiology of Chagas disease, until recently confined to areas of continental Latin America, has undergone considerable changes in recent decades due to migration to other parts of the world, including Spain. We studied the prevalence of Chagas disease in Latin American patients treated at a health center in Barcelona and evaluated its clinical phase. We make some recommendations for screening for the disease.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We performed an observational, cross-sectional prevalence study by means of an immunochromatographic test screening of all continental Latin American patients over the age of 14 years visiting the health centre from October 2007 to October 2009. The diagnosis was confirmed by serological methods: conventional in-house ELISA (cELISA), a commercial kit (rELISA) and ELISA using T cruzi lysate (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics) (oELISA). Of 766 patients studied, 22 were diagnosed with T. cruzi infection, showing a prevalence of 2.87% (95% CI, 1.6–4.12%). Of the infected patients, 45.45% men and 54.55% women, 21 were from Bolivia, showing a prevalence in the Bolivian subgroup (n = 127) of 16.53% (95% CI, 9.6–23.39%).All the infected patients were in a chronic phase of Chagas disease: 81% with the indeterminate form, 9.5% with the cardiac form and 9.5% with the cardiodigestive form. All patients infected with T. cruzi had heard of Chagas disease in their country of origin, 82% knew someone affected, and 77% had a significant history of living in adobe houses in rural areas.

Conclusions

We found a high prevalence of T. cruzi infection in immigrants from Bolivia. Detection of T. cruzi–infected persons by screening programs in non-endemic countries would control non-vectorial transmission and would benefit the persons affected, public health and national health systems.     

Roadblocks in Chagas disease care in endemic and nonendemic countries: Argentina,Colombia, Spain,and the United States. The NET-Heart project

BackgroundChagas disease (CD) is endemic in Latin America; however, its spread to nontropical areas has raised global interest in this condition. Barriers in access to early diagnosis and treatment of both acute and chronic infection and their complications have led to an increasing disease burden outside of Latin America. Our goal was to identify those barriers and to perform an additional analysis of them based on the Inter American Society of Cardiology (SIAC) and the World Heart Federation (WHF) Chagas Roadmap, at a country level in Argentina, Colombia, Spain, and the United States, which serve as representatives of endemic and nonendemic countries.Methodology and principal findingsThis is a nonsystematic review of articles published in indexed journals from 1955 to 2021 and of gray literature (local health organizations guidelines, local policies, blogs, and media). We classified barriers to access care as (i) existing difficulties limiting healthcare access; (ii) lack of awareness about CD and its complications; (iii) poor transmission control (vectorial and nonvectorial); (iv) scarce availability of antitrypanosomal drugs; and (v) cultural beliefs and stigma. Region-specific barriers may limit the implementation of roadmaps and require the application of tailored strategies to improve access to appropriate care.ConclusionsMultiple barriers negatively impact the prognosis of CD. Identification of these roadblocks both nationally and globally is important to guide development of appropriate policies and public health programs to reduce the global burden of this disease.     

Acute Chagas disease in El Salvador 2000-2012 - Need for surveillance and control

Several parasitological studies carried out in El Salvador between 2000-2012 showed a higher frequency of acute cases of Chagas disease than that in other Central American countries. There is an urgent need for improved Chagas disease surveillance and vector control programs in the provinces where acute Chagas disease occurs and throughout El Salvador as a whole.     

Colombia,an unknown genetic diversity in the era of Big Data

Background

Latin America harbors some of the most biodiverse countries in the world, including Colombia. Despite the increasing use of cutting-edge technologies in genomics and bioinformatics in several biological science fields around the world, the region has fallen behind in the inclusion of these approaches in biodiversity studies. In this study, we used data mining methods to search in four main public databases of genetic sequences such as: NCBI Nucleotide and BioProject, Pathosystems Resource Integration Center, and Barcode of Life Data Systems databases. We aimed to determine how much of the Colombian biodiversity is contained in genetic data stored in these public databases and how much of this information has been generated by national institutions. Additionally, we compared this data for Colombia with other countries of high biodiversity in Latin America, such as Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru.

Results

In Nucleotide, we found that 66.84% of total records for Colombia have been published at the national level, and this data represents less than 5% of the total number of species reported for the country. In BioProject, 70.46% of records were generated by national institutions and the great majority of them is represented by microorganisms. In BOLD Systems, 26% of records have been submitted by national institutions, representing 258 species for Colombia. This number of species reported for Colombia span approximately 0.46% of the total biodiversity reported for the country (56,343 species). Finally, in PATRIC database, 13.25% of the reported sequences were contributed by national institutions. Colombia has a better biodiversity representation in public databases in comparison to other Latin American countries, like Costa Rica and Peru. Mexico and Argentina have the highest representation of species at the national level, despite Brazil and Colombia, which actually hold the first and second places in biodiversity worldwide.

Conclusions

Our findings show gaps in the representation of the Colombian biodiversity at the molecular and genetic levels in widely consulted public databases. National funding for high-throughput molecular research, NGS technologies costs, and access to genetic resources are limiting factors. This fact should be taken as an opportunity to foster the development of collaborative projects between research groups in the Latin American region to study the vast biodiversity of these countries using ‘omics’ technologies.