Search

The new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan in China in December 2019, causing severe pneumonias and deaths, soon in March 2020 it reached pandemic level, affecting several countries including Brazil. The disease was named COVID-19, with characteristics of most infected having mild and moderate symptoms and a part severe symptom. The disease has already reached 158 ethnic groups, which have high vulnerability and limited access to health services. The objective is to investigate the clinical and spatial characteristics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome of COVID-19 in the indigenous peoples of Brazil. It is an epidemiological, cross-sectional, analytical ecological study, based on data from the OpenDataSUS platform from 01/01/2020 to 31/08/2020. Profile variables, signs and symptoms and risk factors/comorbidities. The data were analyzed by Bioestat 5.3. There were 1,207 cases and 470 deaths. Profile: male gender (59.48%) means age 53 years. Signs and symptoms: fever (74.23%), cough (77.71%), sore throat (35.62%), dyspnea (69.34%), respiratory discomfort (62.80%), O2 saturation

Leprosy is an immunopathology caused by M. leprae; its evolution depends on immunological and genetic aspects of the host. The objective was verifying the relationship between SNPs 2029 and 2258 of the TLR-2 gene and leprosy. Blood samples from 127 individuals were analyzed: 45 patients, being 34 multibacillary (MB) and 11 paucibacillary (PB) and 82 contacts, in the municipalities of the State of Para-Brazil. SNPs 2029 and 2258 of the TLR-2 gene were genotyped by sequencing on the ABI 3130 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems), analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. Distribution of SNP 2029 genotypes: all MB individuals presented the C/C genotype and the mutant (C/T) genotype was observed in contacts and PB. Alleles: all MB individuals presented only C allele and the mutant allele (T) was observed in contacts and PB. SNP 2258 genotypes: 79 contacts had G/G genotype and only 3 had G/A genotype, the MB group had only G/G genotype and the PB group was predominant G/G, with only 1 G/A genotype. Alleles: all MB individuals had allele G and the mutant allele (A) was observed in contacts and PB. The association between the SNPs and the susceptibility or protection to leprosy was not observed.

Introduction: In the Americas, Brazil contributes 91.63% of the total cases and the state of Para still has high endemia for leprosy. Objective: To analyze the performance of a rapid test for the diagnosis and epidemiological surveillance of leprosy in endemic areas. Methods: The sample consisted of 70 MB multibacillary leprosy (MB) patients, 63 paucibacillary (PB) patients, and 80 intradomiciliary consanguineous contacts (ICSCO) of patients. A rapid test with a 15-minute reading was applied using two prototypes: prototype 1, double test with trisaccharide antigen (NT-P-BSA) at 1a. line (83.2 ng/test) and disaccharide antigen (ND-O-BSA) at 2a. (83.2 ng/test), both with a flow of 0.08 μL/mm with a 10 μC membrane, anti-IgM conjugate with a flow of 0.040 μL/mm and a Tris-Triton and prototype 2 runner buffer with MIX antigen (trisaccharide + disaccharide) in the same concentrations and conditions of prototype 1. Results: The comparison of the MIX test positivity rate and the disaccharide or trisaccharide doublet test across all samples was statistically significant, demonstrating that the MIX test had higher seropositivity rates compared to the ND-O-BSA or NT-P-BSA. It was demonstrated that the MIX test showed a good performance, with 25.39% of the PB patients negative for the disaccharide and trisaccharide duplet test, but positive for MIX. Conclusions: These data suggest the potential for further optimizing the performance by adding other synthetic antigens to the MIX antigens.