This health care group corresponds to the Carlos III Hospital's Tropical Medicine Unit, attended by sub-Saharan immigrants who settle in the Madrid Region, and by a large number of travellers, since it also possesses a pre- and post-trip travellers' advice bureau plus a vaccination centre.
The health care group participates in the selection of patients who have furnished clinical and epidemiological information, as well as clinical specimens of imported Chagas Disease and Leishmaniasis.
It also participates in the selection of patients with some groups of Helminthiasis, such as tapeworm infections and other types of tropical sub-Saharan filarioses, an approach that is enabling new diagnostic tools to be developed for these diseases. Furthermore, in the context of an intestinal protozoal study, samples have been protocolised for E.histolytica, E.dispar, Giardia (parasitol. and molecular). This study is enabling a number of RICET research groups to design diagnostic tools for detection of such infections.