Francisco A. Arredondo MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Infectious diseases (whether new or reemerging) are a real and serious problem in Latin America and the Caribbean. Migration of humans has been the pathway for disseminating infectious diseases throughout recorded history and will continue to shape the emergence, frequency, and spread of infections in geographic areas and populations. Travel is a potent force in the emergence of disease. The current volume, speed, and reach of travel are unprecedented. The consequences of travel extend beyond the traveler to the population visited and the ecosystem. When they travel, humans carry their genetic makeup, immunologic sequelae of past infections, cultural preferences, customs, and behavioral patterns. Microbes, animals, and other biologic life also accompany them. Today, Latin Americans are the largest immigrant group in the United States. During the 1980s eight million immigrants came from Latin America, nearly equal to the total figure of European immigrants who came to the U.S. during the first decade of the 20th century. (Suárez-Orozco & Sommer, 2000, p. 4) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are an estimated 31 million Latinos in the United States, comprising about 11.2 percent of the total population. Immigration from Latin America has become the most significant immigration spread during the second half of the twentieth century with immigrants coming from all over the continent: "Of the top ten "sender" countries in the last decade, four are Latin American and Caribbean: Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica; in the next ten are Haiti, El Salvador, Colombia and Peru". (Suárez-Orozco & Sommer, 2000, p. 3) With the increment in number of legal and illegal population arriving from Latin America there has been also an increase in USA of infectuos diseases frequent in their countries of origin. For example farm workers are approximately six times more likely to develop tuberculosis (TB) than the general population of employed adults. Information provided by the Office of Migrant Health, DHHS, indicates that there are an estimated 4.2 million migrant and seasonal farm workers. Amebic liver abscess is increasingly common in the United States, particularly in the West and Southwest, due to increased immigration from Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Central America. The purpose of this presentation is to evaluate de incidence in the United States of Latin American Infectuos diseases like: hepatitis A,B,C, Tuberculosis, HIV infections, chickenpox,parasitical infectios, Amebiasis, etc, and to review their main radiological findings.

Arredondo, F, Endemic Diseases in Latin America: Role of Imaging.  Radiological Society of North America 2010 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 28 - December 3, 2010 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2010/9016464.html