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Leishmania RNA virus (LRV) has been shown to be a symbiotic component of Leishmania parasites in South America. Nested retro-transcription polymerase chain reaction was employed to investigate LRV1 presence in leishmaniasis lesions from Brazil. In endemic areas of Rio de Janeiro (RJ), no LRV1 infection was observed even with mucosal involvement. LRV1 was only detected in Leishmania (V.) guyanensis cutaneous lesions from the northern region, which were obtained from patients presenting with disease reactivation after clinical cure of their primary lesions. Our results indicated that the severity of leishmaniasis in some areas of RJ, where Leishmania (V.) brazi-liensis is the primary etiological agent, was not associated with Leishmania LRV1 infection.

Eosinophilic panniculitis may be induced by several triggering factors and this syndrome is described here following the intramuscular injection of antimonial compounds for treatment of American muco-cutaneous leishmaniasis. Three patients, treated with intramuscular injections of pentavalent antimony (Glucantime®) were studied through clinical examination, histopathology and immunologic methods. The three patients developed deep infiltrated plaques at the site of antimony injection. Histopathology disclosed a prominent inflammatory infiltrate of the subcutaneous fat with numerous eosinophils. Immunologic studies could not detect immunoglobulins or complement fractions in the lesions. The final diagnosis was eosinophilic panniculitis occurring as a side-effect of antimonial therapy. The pathogenesis was not clear and it is suggested that the disease could be induced by a physical factor such as pressure or an immunological reaction to antimony.

Com o objetivo de estudar o comportamento biológico de cepas do T. cruzi e determinar a possível relação entre o biodema da cepa e as formas clínicas da doença de Chagas, 14 cepas do protozoário isoladas de humanos, procedentes de Pains, Iguatama e Berilo, foram avaliadas. Para estudar o comportamento biológico das cepas, grupos de camundongos albinos suíços, machos, pesando entre 10-15 gramas foram infectados com 1x10(4) tripomastigotas sangüíneos para avaliação da infectividade, parasitemia, morfologia dos tripomastigotas sangüíneos, virulência e distribuição do protozoário nos tecidos. Nove cepas apresentaram comportamento similar ao da cepa São Felipe do biodema II e cinco se caracterizaram como pertencentes ao biodema III. Não foi possível estabelecer uma relação entre o biodema da cepa e gravidade da doença nos pacientes.

Response to treatment with antimonial drugs varies considerably depending on the parasite strain involved, immune status of the patient and clinical form of the disease. Therapeutic regimens with this first line drug have been frequently modified both, in dose and duration of therapy. A regimen of 20 mg/kg/day of pentavalent antimony (Sb5+) during four weeks without an upper limit on the daily dose is currently recommended for mucosal disease ("espundia"). Side-effects with this dose are more marked in elderly patients, more commonly affected by this form of leishmaniasis. According to our experience, leishmaniasis in Rio de Janeiro responds well to antimony and, in cutaneous disease, high cure rates are obtained with 5 mg/kg/day of Sb5+ during 30 to 45-days. In this study a high rate of cure (91.4%) employing this dose was achieved in 36 patients with mild disease in this same geographic region. Side-effects were reduced and no antimony refractoriness was noted with subsequent use of larger dose in patients that failed to respond to initial schedule. A resposta de pacientes com leishmaniose ao tratamento antimonial pode variar em função de fatores como a cepa do parasito envolvido, estado imunológico do paciente e a forma clínica da doença. Os esquemas terapêuticos com antimônio pentavalente (Sb5+) têm sido frequentemente modificados quanto à dose e duração da terapia. Os efeitos colaterais observados com o uso de 20 mg/kg/dia de Sb5+ durante quatro semanas (dose recomendada para o tratamento da forma mucosa) são mais acentuados em pacientes idosos, os mais afetados pela forma mucosa (espundia) da doença. Nossa experiência demonstra que a forma cutânea ocorrendo no Rio de Janeiro responde muito bem ao tratamento com a dose de 5 mg/kg/dia de Sb5+ durante 30 ou 45 dias. Neste estudo foi obtida elevada eficácia (91,4%) com o mesmo regime terapêutico em 36 pacientes com espundia (que evoluem, contudo, com lesão crônica menos destrutiva do que o observado em outras áreas endêmicas) procedentes desta região. Os efeitos colaterais foram reduzidos, não havendo também qualquer resistência ao emprego de doses maiores nos casos que não responderam ao tratamento inicial.

Paleoparasitology is the study of parasites found in archaeological material. The development of this field of research began with histological identification of helminth eggs in mummy tissues, analysis of coprolites, and recently through molecular biology. An approach to the history of paleoparasitology is reviewed in this paper, with special reference to the studies of ancient DNA identified in archaeological material.Paleoparasitologia é o estudo de parasitos encontrados em material arqueológico. O desenvolvimento deste campo da pesquisa teve início com a identificação de ovos de helmintos em tecidos mumificados, análise de coprólitos e, recentemente, através da biologia molecular. Neste artigo faz-se uma breve revisão da história da paleoparasitologia com referência especial aos estudos de ADN antigo (ancient DNA) em material arqueológico

It has long been acknowledged within the scientific community that in the mid-term future the Earth will undergo important changes beyond those deduced from the past behaviour of known physical phenomena. For example, climate change due to rising temperatures is expected to influence several systems, like ocean levels, wind current and rain regimes. Global travel, urbanisation, biomedical manipulation and intensive agriculture are additional factors affecting natural systems which together in turn influence the diversity of plant, animals, and microorganisms in general. As a result, zoonoses represent 60,3% of emerging infectious diseases, more than 70% of which are caused by pathogens of wildlife origin (Jones et al. 2008). Whatever the action suffered by these subsystems (increase or reduction in species number), the fact is that currently we are unable to predict the exact outcomes of these changes. This limitation to forecast the future does not prevent us to sketch scenarios for probable events, such as the emergence of unknown and lethal infectious agents. Advances in research of infectious disease and epidemiology have empowered society to respond quickly to this kind of threat, though not so effective as to the point of controlling or completely eliminating a disease. The Ebola epidemics is an example of such an event and its response. Now we have another threat: the Zika virus (ZIKV) and its vector, the mosquito Aedes aegypti. The Director-General of the World Health Organization, on 1 February 2016, declared this to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). We can only speculate that the spread of both this virus and vector might be seen as signs of the changes anticipated by climatologists and ecologists. However, one thing is beyond any question or doubt: we have to start new ways to accelerate scientific collaboration, including access to data and exchange of research findings. Recently, the Forum of Scientific Editors of FIOCRUZ decided collectively to give priority to the publication of papers regarding the Zika epidemic in their journals. In the context of this decision and the declaration of the Director-General of the World Health Organization, we, as the editors of the Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (MIOC), have decided to create a section on the MIOC website called “Zika Fast Track”, where research manuscripts relevant to the Zika epidemic will be posted. We have also decided to follow the example of the Bulletin of WHO (Dye et al. 2016) and make the data in these papers freely available for unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction provided that the original work is properly cited as indicated by the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY). All research manuscripts concerning the Zika epidemic, after submission to the Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, will be evaluated by an Editor and those considered relevant will be assigned a digital object identifier and posted online in the “Zika Fast Track” section of the Web-site within 24 hours. At the same time, manuscripts will be evaluated by peer review. Data in these manuscripts will thus be attributed to the authors while being freely available for reader scrutiny and unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction provided that the original work is properly cited as indicated by the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 3.0). In papers accepted by the MIOC following peer review, this period of open data within the Zika Fast Track will be mentioned in the final publication. In case of rejection after peer review, authors are free to seek publication elsewhere. Manuscripts can be submitted via the MIOC website memorias.ioc.fiocruz.br.

A partir de relato de diagnóstico de leishmaniose visceral em cinco cães dos municípios de Santa Maria, Itaara e Júlio de Castilhos, no centro do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, foi realizado levantamento sorológico através de teste de imunofluorescência indireta em sangue obtido em papel de filtro de 40 cães de Santa Maria, 20 de Itaara e 11 de Júlio de Castilhos, em geral relacionados aos cinco cães considerados como positivos. Além destes, foi também examinado o sangue de 44 cães vadios de Júlio de Castilhos, 68 de Cachoeira do Sul e 20 de Caçapava do Sul. Soros fracamente reagentes com títulos < 1:40 foram avaliados em ensaios de Ensaio Imuno-enzimático. Amostras de fígado, baço, pulmão e linfonodos de um sexto cão de Santa Maria, considerado como positivo à necropsia, foram examinadas através de histopatologia e PCR. Todos os resultados dos 204 cães foram negativos, indicando que, apesar de não ser impossível a ocorrência de leishmaniose visceral na região, por vários fatores aqui discutidos, ela deve ser pelo menos extremamente rara, sendo necessários estudos mais detalhados do material dos cinco cães tidos como positivos.

Epidermal changes from 32 cutaneous and 3 mucosal American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) active lesions were studied for HLA-DR, -DQ and -DP expression, Langerhans cells and lymphocyte infiltration. In addition to a DR and DQ positivity at the surface of the cells of the inflammatory infiltrate, a strong reaction for DR antigens was detected on keratinocytes. Hyperplasia of Langerhans cells was present in all cutaneous lesions and epidermis was infiltrated by T lymphocytes. When healed lesions of 14 of these subjects were re-biopsied 1 to 12 months after the end of pentavalent antimonial therapy, MHC class II antigens could no longer be seen on keratinocytes. Our data represent evidence for the reversibility of the abnormal HLA-DR expression by keratinocytes in ACL after Glucantime therapy or spontaneous scar formation, demonstrating that this expression is restricted to the period of active lesions. The present findings can be regarded as an indirect evidence that keratinocytes may be involved in the immunopathology of ACL.