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Background: Transfusion-transmitted malaria (TTM) is a public health problem in endemic and nonendemic areas. The Brazilian Ministry of Health (MH) requested the development of a nucleic acid amplification test (NAT) for the detection of Plasmodium spp. in public blood centers to increase blood safety., Study Design and Methods: The new Brazilian NAT kit named NAT PLUS HIV/HBV/HCV/Malaria Bio-Manguinhos was first implemented in HEMORIO, a public blood center in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Since October 1, 2022, this blood center has been testing all its blood donations for malaria in a pool of six plasma samples to detect Plasmodium spp. by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)., Results: Since the implementation of the NAT PLUS platform until February 2023, HEMORIO has successfully received and tested 200,277 donations. The platform detected two asymptomatic donors in the city of Rio de Janeiro, which is a nonendemic region for malaria. Our analyses suggested a malaria from the Amazon region caused by Plasmodium vivax, in the first case, while an autochthonous transmission case by Plasmodium malariae was identified in the rural area of Rio de Janeiro state., Discussion: The NAT PLUS platform detects Plasmodium spp. in plasma samples with sensitivity capable of detecting subpatent infections. This is the first time worldwide that a group developed and implemented molecular diagnosis for Plasmodium spp. to be used by public blood centers to avoid TTM., (© 2024 AABB.)

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the main complications of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of AKI in Brazilian hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and identify the risk factors associated with its onset and those associated with its prognosis., Methods: A prospective cohort study of hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 at a public and tertiary university hospital in São Paulo from March to December 2020., Results: There were 347 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 52.4% were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and 47.6% were admitted to the wards. The overall incidence of AKI was 46.4%, more frequent in the ICU (68.1% vs 22.4, p < 0.01) and the overall mortality was 36.1%. Acute kidney replacement therapy was indicated in 46.6% of patients with AKI. In the general population, the factors associated with AKI were older age (OR 1.03, CI 1-1.05, p < 0.05), mechanical ventilation (OR 1.23, CI 1.06-1.83, p < 0.05), presence of proteinuria (OR 1.46, CI 1.22-1.93, p < 0.05), and use of vasoactive drugs (OR 1.26, CI 1.07-1.92, p < 0.05). Mortality was higher in the elderly (OR 1.08, CI 1.04-1.11, p < 0.05), in those with AKI (OR 1.12, CI 1.02-2.05, p < 0.05), particularly KDIGO stage 3 AKI (OR 1.10, CI 1.22-2.05, p < 0.05) and in need of mechanical ventilation (OR 1.13, CI 1.03-1.60, p < 0.05)., Conclusion: AKI was frequent in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and the factors associated with its development were older age, mechanical ventilation, use of vasoactive drugs, and presence of proteinuria, being a risk factor for death., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 has a worldwide distribution and presents high mortality rates in species of Cyprinus carpio, causing serious economic loss to the global aquaculture industry. The description of this infection in other ornamental fish species is still limited. For this purpose, 100 ornamental fish from 24 different species were tested by PCR for Cyprinid hespesvirus 3 and the positive samples represented 6% of the tested samples. Phylogenetic reconstruction, based on the Thymidine Kinase gene, revealed the existence of two distinct clades. One clade grouped a Brazilian sample with European and Asian genotypes of CyHV-3 and a second clade, containing only Brazilian sequences described in this study. All of the Brazilian sequences showed identity values greater than 97.7% when compared to each other. This is the first report of the occurrence of Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 in ornamental fish species in Brazil. These results in association with further studies of viral isolation and characterization can help in establishing effective surveillance and disease control program., (© 2022. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Sociedade Brasileira de Microbiologia.)

Population surveillance in COVID-19 Pandemic is crucial to follow up the pace of disease and its related immunological status. Here we present a cross-sectional study done in Maricá, a seaside town close to the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Three rounds of study sampling, enrolling a total of 1134 subjects, were performed during May to August 2021. Here we show that the number of individuals carrying detectable IgG antibodies and the neutralizing antibody (NAb) levels were greater in vaccinated groups compared to unvaccinated ones, highlighting the importance of vaccination to attain noticeable levels of populational immunity against SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, we found a decreased incidence of COVID-19 throughout the study, clearly correlated with the level of vaccinated individuals as well as the proportion of individuals with detectable levels of IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2 and NAb. The observed drop occurred even during the introduction of the Delta variant in Maricá, what suggests that the vaccination slowed down the widespread transmission of this variant. Overall, our data clearly support the use of vaccines to drop the incidence associated to SARS-CoV-2., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The genus Dermocystidium infects a wide range of animals. The host infection often occurs through the ingestion of endospores. The diagnosis depends on wet mounts and histopathological analysis of the affected tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of Dermocystidium sp. infection on the skin of farmed striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) from a fish farm located in Fortaleza, Ceará state, northeastern Brazil. From these observations, we determined that 100% of the analyzed animals were infected with Dermocystidium sp. The wet mount and histopathology of the fish lesions revealed spore-filled cysts between the dermis and epidermis, encapsulated by connective tissue. Owing to a lack of research on the parasite and its prevalence among different fish species in Brazil and the rest of the world, additional studies are required to understand their endemicity in fish farms of Brazil, and consequently develop better disease prevention methods and increase the overall productivity.

Bacterial diseases are common in ornamental fish, more frequently associated with ubiquitous bacteria from the aquarium environment. The disease can lead to fish mortality and cause high economic losses if not rapidly controlled. The aim of this study was to identify the main causative bacterial agents of infection in ornamental fish with different clinical signs. A total of 126 freshwater fish, from 12 families and 38 species, with clinical signs were collected in a wholesaler in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Samples were taken from the eye, skin ulcers, kidneys, and gills, plated on MacConkey, CHROMagar Orientation, and blood agar and incubated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Bacterial identification was performed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. From the 126 studied animals, 112 were positive for bacterial isolation. Among the positive animals, 32.1% presented infection caused by a single bacterial species, while in the remaining 67.9%, two to six different bacterial species were identified. A total of 259 bacterial strains were obtained and classified among 46 bacterial species. The species of higher frequency were Aeromonas veronii (26.3%), Aeromonas hydrophilla (16.2%), Shewanella putrefaciens (7.3%), Citrobacter freundii (8.1%), Vibrio albensis (5.8%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (4.2%). MALDI-TOF MS showed to be a rapid method for diagnosis of bacterial disease outbreaks in ornamental fish establishments.

This study identified the parasitic species in juvenile freshwater finfishes during the fattening stage, from a fish farm located in the Zona da Mata (MG), southeastern Brazil, and revealed both macro and microscopical lesions in fish gills. A total of 172 juvenile fishes of different species (Oreochromis niloticus, Ictalurus punctatus, Ctenopharyngodon idella, Cyprinus carpio, Astyanax bimaculatus and Brycon amazonicus) were transported to a laboratory in São Paulo city. The fish were sedated and then euthanized for parasitological analysis. All fish were infected by at least one parasite species. Ten different species of parasites were identified: Apiosoma sp., Epistylis sp., Ichthyobodo sp., trichodinids, Piscinoodinium pillulare, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Tetrahymena sp., monogeneans, Centrocestus formosanus metacercariae, and Dermocystidium sp. The best management practices and lack of sanitary control were also discussed.

Purpose: Civil violence is responsible for 2.5% of deaths worldwide; it killed more people in the 21st century than the sum of all wars. This study describes violence victims treated at a trauma reference hospital in Salvador, Brazil and analyzes the impact of different types of interpersonal violence., Methods: Interpersonal violence victims admitted between July 2015 and July 2017 were included. The 1,296 patients (mean age: 30.3 years; 90% male) were divided into three groups according to the mechanism of interpersonal violence: 1) beating, 2) firearm injury and 3) stab wound (STW) injury. The groups were compared for the following variables: age, gender, trauma mechanism, Revised Trauma Score (RTS) at admission, need for intensive care unit (ICU) attention, length of hospital stay, need for transfusion of blood products and death., Results: Gunshot wounds (GSW) were the primary mechanism of injury (59%), followed by beating (24%) and STW (17%). Gunshot wound victims had a lower mean RTS upon admission, increased need for blood products and more Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions. Beating victims had the longest mean hospital stay (11.6 ± 19.6 days). The GSW group accounted for 77.4% of all deaths. The in-hospital mortality rate was significantly higher in the GSW group (12.7%) than in the beating group (5.4%) and in the STW group (4.9%)., Conclusions: Gunshot wound victims are more critical: they require longer ICU stays, more transfusions of blood products and exhibit increased mortality compared with STW and beating victims.

The aim of this study is to report the occurrence of Lymphocystivirus in Brazilian ornamental fish. From 25 ornamental fish species submitted for molecular diagnosis, only one sample (Pomacanthus imperator) was positive, and its viral nucleotide sequence obtained clustered with sequences of genotype VII. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the genetic characterization of Lymphocystivirus in Brazil.

Scuticociliatosis, caused by an opportunistic ciliate protozoan, is responsible for significant economic losses in marine ornamental fish. This study reports the occurrence of Uronema spp., parasitizing ten species of marine reef fish at an ornamental fish wholesaler: Blue green damselfish (Chromis viridis), Vanderbilt's Chromis (Chromis vanderbilti), Pennant coralfish (Heniochus acuminatus), Threespot angelfish (Apolemichthys trimaculatus), Goldspotted angelfish (Apolemichthys xanthopunctatus), Sea goldie (Pseudanthias squamipinnis), Orchid dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani), Threadfin butterflyfish (Chaetodon auriga), Vagabond butterflyfish (Chaetodon vagabundus), and Bluecheek butterflyfish (Chaetodon semilarvatus). Diseased fish showed disorders such as hemorrhages and ulcerative lesions on the body surface. Histopathological analysis of the muscle, liver, gut, kidney, spleen, gills, and stomach revealed hemorrhages and degeneration of muscle fiber, vacuolar degeneration of hepatocyte, inflammatory process and granuloma in the liver, atrophy of intestinal villi, inflammatory process and granuloma in the kidney, melanomacrophage centers, as well as inflammatory process in the spleen, epithelial cells hyperplasia and granuloma formation in the gills, and vacuolar degeneration and eosinophils in the stomach. Due to the severity of the disease, it is necessary to implement biosecurity measures with rapid and accurate diagnosis to minimize the risk of economic losses caused by Uronema spp.

More than 1.450 marine fish species are commercialized as ornamental fish and approximately 90% of these are wild-caught. Rainford's butterflyfish, Chaetodon rainfordi (McCulloch, 1923), is endemic to the western Pacific. This fish species belongs to one of the main ornamental fish families imported into Brazil. Haliotrema is a genus of the family Dactylogyridae. Species of this genus have very interesting host associations and geographic distributions. The aim of this study was to report on occurrences of exotic Haliotrema aurigae in diseased Rainford butterflyfish that were imported to Brazil. One Rainford's butterflyfish with suspected parasitic disease was euthanized and subjected to skin and gill scraping. The parasite specimens were mounted on semi-permanent slides with Hoyer's solution for morphological analysis of sclerotized structures. The hard-sclerotized structures of these specimens were compared and were identified as those of Haliotrema aurigae (Yamaguti, 1968). These results emphasize the importance of implementation of correct control measures at the country's borders, to avoid the introduction of exotic parasites. In addition, it can be emphasized that the easy adaptation of this parasite to new environments is a concern for ornamental fish farmers.

The capsalid monogenean Neobenedenia melleni is known as a lethal pathogen for captured marine teleost ornamental fish, if left untreated. This study reports the occurrence of N. melleni parasitizing four species of ornamental reef fish imported into Brazil and maintained in quarantine: Arabian angelfish (Pomacanthus asfur ), yellowbar angelfish (Pomacanthus maculosus), regal angelfish (Pygoplites diacanthus), and bluecheek butterflyfish (Chaetodon semilarvatus). Ten days after the beginning of quarantine, some fish showed behavioral alterations, such as irritability, and corneal opacity, which were rapidly diagnosed to be caused by monogenean parasites by body surface scraping. The fish from the same batch were treated with two applications of 2 mg L-1 praziquantel each at an interval of four days. Seven days after the first treatment, the mucus surface of the fish was re-examined, which did not reveal the parasites presence being delivered for commercialization.

Objectives: The increase in HIV transmissibility in non-ulcerative sexually transmitted infection is already well-established. It is estimated that symptomatic carriers of N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis have a relative risk of 4.8-fold and 3.6-fold, respectively, for the sexual acquisition of HIV. This type of evaluation for asymptomatic urethritis is necessary to reinforce strategies to combat HIV transmission. This study aims to assess the prevalence of patients with asymptomatic urethritis among men diagnosed with HIV-1 and determine the risk factors associated with this infection., Methods: We enrolled a total of 115 male patients aged 18 years or older who have been diagnosed with HIV infection and have no symptoms of urethritis or other sexually transmitted infections and who have been evaluated between May and August 2015 in a follow-up visit at the Immunology Outpatient Clinic of a Brazilian University Hospital., Results: Four asymptomatic patients were positive for C. trachomatis and were considered asymptomatic carriers of urethritis. Prevalence was 3.47%. Patients who were positive for C. trachomatis urethritis had a lower mean age (p = 0.015)., Conclusion: The presence of asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection is a challenge in clinical practice. We recommend that, in outpatient practice, the habit of inquiring on previous sexual behavior to obtain more information about risks and associations with asymptomatic sexually transmitted infection, a routine physical examination and complementary tests to detect STI pathogens should be performed to discard these conditions. The development of rapid tests for this purpose should also be encouraged.