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Introduction: Giardia duodenalis is an intestinal protozoan with a high prevalence in children of developing countries. Molecular studies revealed a great genetic diversity of G. duodenalis, with assemblages A and B found mainly in humans. Despite its importance, the information on the molecular epidemiology of human giardiasis is still limited in Brazil., Objective: To characterize G. duodenalis molecular isolates in children from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil., Materials and Methods: Giardia duodenalis positive fecal samples were obtained from 71 children from two day care centers and 39 users of a clinical analysis laboratory. Samples were analyzed by PCR-RFLP of the glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) and beta-giardin genes and by the sequencing of beta-giardin., Results: Of the 110 G. duodenalis samples, 80 (72.7%) amplified one or both target genes. Of these, 62 (77.5 %) were identified as assemblage A and 18 (22.5%) as assemblage B. The subassemblage AII was identified in 58.8% (n=47) of isolates followed by the sub-assemblage AI (18.8%, n=15), BIV (11.2%, n=9), and BIII (5.0%, n=4). The AII sub-assemblage was the most frequent in children of both day care centers whereas AI was found only in the group attended at the clinical laboratory. Sub-assemblage AII predominated in children under two years., Conclusions: The higher frequency of AII sub-assemblage suggests that anthroponotic transmission is more common in Salvador, but that zoonotic transmission pathways are also present and a change in susceptibility to different molecular patterns of Giardia may occur during child growth.

Nucleotides have been identified as conditionally essential nutrients. As prevention studies, conducted with nucleotide-supplemented formula, have shown statistically significant decrease in the risk of diarrhea, we tested the hypothesis that the consumption of nucleotide-supplemented formula during an acute diarrhea episode is associated with therapeutic effects in the treatment of infants with acute diarrhea and dehydration. A randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial was conducted in which patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatment groups. The "test" group consumed a nucleotide-supplemented infant formula and the "control" group consumed a nonsupplemented formula. Infants were accommodated in a metabolic unit where body weight, and all intakes and outputs were recorded at 24-hour intervals during hospitalization. Laboratory parameters including blood gases and electrolytes were monitored during hospitalization. Eighty-one male infants ranging in age from older than 1 month and younger than 1 year, with acute non-cholera diarrhea and dehydration were studied. Primary outcomes were stool output and duration of diarrhea and did not differ significantly between the groups, with a stool output of 304.2 (SD 254.0) vs 350.3 (SD 269.1) g/kg and a duration of diarrhea of 83.3 (SD 44.5) vs 88.8 (SD 46.6) for the test and control groups, respectively. Anemia was highly prevalent and breast-feeding practice was not frequent in both groups. The average energy intake and weight gain were similar in the 2 groups. This study demonstrated that nucleotide supplementation of infant formula during episodes of acute diarrhea has no therapeutic advantage compared to conventional infant formula.

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) were detected by reverse transcription-PCR in 16.1% of 335 stool samples from children <6 years of age with enteritis in Salvador, Brazil. Whole genome sequencing of 1 sample showed a novel HPeV that has been designated as HPeV8.