Scholars@Duke
Ernesto Ortiz

Ernesto Ortiz

Associate In Research
Duke Global Health Institute
ernesto.ortiz@duke.edu
225 Trent Hall, 2nd Floor, Durham, NC 27705
310 Trent Dr., Trent Hall Office 225, Durham, NC 27705

Selected Publications

Development, launch, and scale-up of health products in low-income and middle-income countries: a retrospective analysis on 59 health products.

Journal Article The Lancet. Global health · June 2025 BackgroundLow-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear a heavy burden from communicable, maternal, and childhood diseases, yet access to health products addressing these burdens is lagging. We aimed to provide empirical evidence about the t ... Full text Open Access Cite

Scaling malaria interventions: bottlenecks to malaria elimination.

Journal Article BMJ global health · November 2023 The slow progress in malaria control efforts and increasing challenges have prompted a need to accelerate the research and development (R&D), launch and scaling of effective interventions for malaria elimination. This research, including desk research and ... Full text Open Access Cite

In Utero Exposure to Metals and Birth Outcomes in an Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Birth Cohort in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Journal Article Environ Health Perspect · September 2023 BACKGROUND: Few birth cohorts in South America evaluate the joint effect of minerals and toxic metals on neonatal health. In Madre de Dios, Peru, mercury exposure is prevalent owing to artisanal gold mining, yet its effect on neonatal health is unknown. OB ... Full text Link to item Cite

Risk of lead exposure from wild game consumption from cross-sectional studies in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Journal Article Lancet regional health. Americas · August 2022 BackgroundStudies have shown elevated blood lead levels (BLL) in residents of remote communities in the Amazon, yet sources of lead exposure are not fully understood, such as lead ammunition consumed in wild game.MethodsData was collected ... Full text Cite

Efficacy of Hair Total Mercury Content as a Biomarker of Methylmercury Exposure to Communities in the Area of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Journal Article International journal of environmental research and public health · December 2021 Total mercury content (THg) in hair is an accepted biomarker for chronic dietary methylmercury (MeHg) exposure. In artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities, the validity of this biomarker is questioned because of the potential for contamina ... Full text Cite

Risk factors for cutaneous leishmaniasis in a high-altitude forest region of Peru.

Journal Article Tropical medicine and health · May 2021 BackgroundAmerican cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease typically associated with men working in remote, sylvatic environments. We sought to identify CL risk factors in a highly deforested region where anecdotal reports sug ... Full text Cite

A population-based mercury exposure assessment near an artisanal and small-scale gold mining site in the Peruvian Amazon.

Journal Article Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · February 2021 Human exposure to mercury is a leading public health problem. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a major source of global mercury emissions. Although occupational mercury exposure to miners (via mercury vapor inhalation) is known, chronic merc ... Full text Cite

CoNaMad-Cohorte de Nacimiento de Madre de Dios/Madre de Dios Birth Cohort to Study Effects of in-utero Trace Metals Exposure in the Southern Peruvian Amazon.

Journal Article Ann Glob Health · 2021 BACKGROUND: In-utero exposure to mercury and other trace metals pose a significant threat to child health and development, but exposures and health impacts in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) environments are poorly defined. OBJECTIVES: We desc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of Peruvian Government Interventions to Reduce Childhood Anemia.

Journal Article Annals of global health · August 2020 BackgroundIn Peru, anemia has been a persistent health problem that is known to lead to irreversible cognitive and developmental deficits in children. The Peruvian government has recently made anemia a primary health concern by passing legislation ... Full text Cite

Elevated Hair Mercury Levels Are Associated With Neurodevelopmental Deficits in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Peru.

Journal Article GeoHealth · May 2020 Children living near artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) are at risk of exposure to mercury, a neurotoxicant. It is not certain whether such exposures are harming development, as they occur in underresourced contexts entwined with other stressors, ... Full text Cite

Deforestation Due to Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Exacerbates Soil and Mercury Mobilization in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Journal Article Environmental science & technology · January 2020 Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a significant contributor of mercury (Hg) contamination and deforestation across the globe. In the Colorado River watershed in Madre de Dios, Peru, mining and deforestation have increased exponentially since ... Full text Cite

Predictors of mitochondrial DNA copy number and damage in a mercury-exposed rural Peruvian population near artisanal and small-scale gold mining: An exploratory study.

Journal Article Environmental and molecular mutagenesis · March 2019 Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number (CN) and damage in circulating white blood cells have been proposed as effect biomarkers for pollutant exposures. Studies have shown that mercury accumulates in mitochondria and affects mitochondrial function and integ ... Full text Cite

Mercury Exposure and Poor Nutritional Status Reduce Response to Six Expanded Program on Immunization Vaccines in Children: An Observational Cohort Study of Communities Affected by Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon.

Journal Article Int J Environ Res Public Health · February 21, 2019 Background: Poor nutritional status combined with mercury exposure can generate adverse child health outcomes. Diet is a mediator of mercury exposure and evidence suggests that nutritional status modifies aspects of mercury toxicity. However, health impact ... Full text Link to item Cite

Assessment of Two Diabetes Point-of-care Analyzers Measuring Hemoglobin A1c in the Peruvian Amazon.

Journal Article Annals of global health · November 2018 BackgroundWith an estimated 174 million undiagnosed cases of diabetes mellitus worldwide and 80% of them occurring in low- and middle-income countries an effective point-of-care diagnostic tool is key to fighting this global epidemic. Glycated hem ... Full text Cite

Portable Pocket colposcopy performs comparably to standard-of-care clinical colposcopy using acetic acid and Lugol's iodine as contrast mediators: an investigational study in Peru.

Journal Article BJOG · September 2018 OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to develop a tele-colposcopy platform for primary-care clinics to improve screening sensitivity and access. Specifically, we developed a low-cost, portable Pocket colposcope and evaluated its performance in a tertiary healthcare cen ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Clinical evaluation of a portable pocket colposcope for cervical cancer screening in the United States, Perú, and Tanzania

Conference 2017 IEEE Healthcare Innovations and Point of Care Technologies Hi Poct 2017 · December 19, 2017 Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths for women worldwide, despite being both preventable and treatable if detected early enough. The burden of disease persists in part due to a lack of access to early diagnostics and the fac ... Full text Cite

Hair Mercury Level is Associated with Anemia and Micronutrient Status in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon.

Journal Article The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · December 2017 Anemia has been widely studied in global health contexts because of severe nutritional deficiency, and more recently, inflammatory status, but chemical exposures are rarely considered. Until recently, "anemia" was used synonymously with "iron deficiency an ... Full text Cite

Spatial, Temporal, and Dietary Variables Associated with Elevated Mercury Exposure in Peruvian Riverine Communities Upstream and Downstream of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining.

Journal Article International journal of environmental research and public health · December 2017 Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a primary contributor to global mercury and its rapid expansion raises concern for human exposure. Non-occupational exposure risks are presumed to be strongly tied to environmental contamination; however, the ... Full text Cite

Burden of Influenza in 4 Ecologically Distinct Regions of Peru: Household Active Surveillance of a Community Cohort, 2009-2015.

Journal Article Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · October 2017 BackgroundThere are limited data on the burden of disease posed by influenza in low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, most estimates of influenza disease burden worldwide rely on passive sentinel surveillance at health clinics and hospita ... Full text Cite

A population-based estimate of the economic burden of influenza in Peru, 2009-2010.

Journal Article Influenza and other respiratory viruses · July 2016 IntroductionInfluenza disease burden and economic impact data are needed to assess the potential value of interventions. Such information is limited from resource-limited settings. We therefore studied the cost of influenza in Peru.Methods Full text Cite

Human Coronavirus-Associated Influenza-Like Illness in the Community Setting in Peru.

Journal Article The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · November 2015 We present findings describing the epidemiology of non-severe acute respiratory syndrome human coronavirus-associated influenza-like illness from a population-based active follow-up study in four different regions of Peru. In 2010, the prevalence of infect ... Full text Cite

River transport of mercury from artisanal and small-scale gold mining and risks for dietary mercury exposure in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Journal Article Environmental science. Processes & impacts · February 2015 Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a major contributor to deforestation and the largest anthropogenic source of atmospheric mercury worldwide. Despite significant information on the direct health impacts of mercury to ASGM miners, the impact o ... Full text Cite

Population-based active surveillance cohort studies for influenza: lessons from Peru.

Journal Article Bulletin of the World Health Organization · April 2012 Full text Cite

Serologic evidence of avian metapneumovirus infection among adults occupationally exposed to Turkeys.

Journal Article Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) · November 2011 Genetically similar, the avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) and the human MPV (hMPV) are the only viruses in the Metapneumovirus genus. Previous research demonstrated the ability of hMPV to cause clinical disease in turkeys. In this controlled, cross-sectional, ... Full text Cite

Evidence of previous avian influenza infection among US turkey workers.

Journal Article Zoonoses and public health · June 2010 The threat of an influenza pandemic is looming, with new cases of sporadic avian influenza infections in man frequently reported. Exposure to diseased poultry is a leading risk factor for these infections. In this study, we used logistic regression to inve ... Full text Cite

Influenza-like illness sentinel surveillance in Peru.

Journal Article PloS one · July 2009 BackgroundAcute respiratory illnesses and influenza-like illnesses (ILI) are a significant source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite the public health importance, little is known about the etiology of these acute respiratory illnesses i ... Full text Cite

Lack of evidence of avian adenovirus infection among turkey workers.

Journal Article Journal of agromedicine · January 2009 Zoonotic infections constitute a major public health concern. Outbreaks of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and avian influenza viruses are but recent examples. Although there are many animal-specific adenoviruses and occasionally they have bee ... Full text Cite

Avian influenza and poultry workers, Peru, 2006.

Journal Article Influenza and other respiratory viruses · March 2007 BackgroundCurrently numerous countries in Asia, Africa and Europe are encountering highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) infections in poultry and humans. In the Americas, home of the world's largest poultry exporters, contingency plans are being ... Full text Cite