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Investigation Of Hantavirus And Leptospira As Possible Contributing Factors Of The Unexplained Kidney Disease Epidemic In Nicaragua, Nicole J. Delgado

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Throughout Latin America, an epidemic of a kidney disease of an unknown etiology has been occurring since the late 1990s, and this disease is being called “Mesoamerican nephropathy.” Mesoamerican nephropathy predominantly affects male sugarcane workers. In Chichigalpa, Chinandega, Nicaragua, there is sugarcane plantation that is being heavily impacted by the Mesoamerican nephropathy epidemic, and they invited researchers from Baylor College of Medicine to investigate the epidemic. The prospective epidemic investigation began in 2015, and it is an ongoing investigation. Based on the compilation of data collected during the preliminary investigation, our hypothesis is that a possible zoonotic disease, such as …