Rice bran contains essential nutrients, antioxidants, and bioactives with anti-inflammatory and diarrheal protective properties important for infants. This 6-month randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of heat-stabilized rice bran supplementation during Malian infant weaning. Fifty healthy 6-month-old infants were randomized to a rice bran intervention (N = 25) or non-intervention control group (N = 25). Intervention infants received dose-escalating rice bran supplementation for 6 months (1–5 g/day). Monthly infant dried blood spot and anthropometric measurements were collected. Dried blood spot metabolite abundances were compared monthly according to diet for six months. Supplementation resulted in favorable weight-for-age and weight-for-length z-score changes. Non-targeted dried blood spot-based metabolomics identified 796 metabolites, of which 33% had significant fold differences between groups (7–12 months). Lipids and amino acids represented 70.6% of the metabolites identified. Rice bran supplementation during infant weaning significantly modulated the metabolites involved in antioxidant defenses and with neuroactive properties including reduced glutathione, glycine, glutamate, cysteinylglycine, tryptophan betaine, and choline. These findings support rice bran as a weaning ingredient to meet infant nutritional requirements and with the potential to reduce oxidative stress and improve cognitive outcomes. This study provides evidence for dried blood spots as a cost-effective tool to detect infant biomarkers of nutritional and metabolic status.

Chagas disease (CD), an emerging neglected tropical disease endemic to Latin America, causes 12,000 deaths annually. Its ecological and epidemiological complexities, including rural-urban shifts in disease distribution, have complicated outbreak control. Further understanding of the conditions that promote outbreaks will support improved public health response design. Outbreak investigations of CD in South America were reviewed and the investigative methods used across outbreaks were assessed to provide important insight into the disease epidemiology. Primary and secondary database searches resulted in 77 and 83 articles describing outbreaks of CD in South America, respectively. This review included articles that provided an extensive description of the outbreak investigation and the use of appropriate epidemiological methods. Outbreaks primarily occurred in urban areas (62.5%), some linked to rural-based food production and handling facilities. They resulted in 186 cases of CD and five deaths. Oral transmission was identified in all outbreaks. Non-specific symptoms common in endemic diseases (malaria and dengue) led to initial misdiagnosis and delayed treatment. The considerable impact of CD on morbidity and mortality, shifting ecology, and diagnostic difficulties demands improvements in disease surveillance, training in the health sector, development of new diagnostic tools, and public education on prevention measures.