No abstract

COVID-19 is considered by the World Health Organization to be a global public health emergency, which presents regional divergences that affect the epidemiological profile of the disease and are associated with political, economic, social and behavioral aspects. We aimed to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of the disease in the microregion of Uberlândia, Brazil, in order to determine risk factors that contributed to progression of SARS-CoV-2 virus. A cross-sectional study was conducted about micro- and macro-determinants combined with the significance analysis of suspected and confirmed cases in 18 municipalities during the epidemiological weeks (EW) 9 to 26. There were 34,046 notifications, of which 4935 (14.49%) people were diagnosed with COVID-19. Of these, 282 (5.71%) required hospital care and 40 (0.81%) died. Age and presence of associated comorbidities were decisive in the variations of incidence and lethality rates. In general, young people were the most affected and the elderly people, the most exposed to the serious and lethal form (p < 0.0001). Comorbidities such as diabetes and cardiopathies increased 33.5 times the death risk. The dispersion of the virus was centrifugal, in the inter as well as in the intra-municipal level. The disorderly implementation of municipal decrees applied in a decentralized manner in the municipalities seems to have contributed for the incidence rates increasing in the EW 25 and 26.

This work describes the synthesis and characterization of two metal complexes of the type [M(L1)2(phen)], where M = Pt2+ (complex I) or Pd2+ (complex II), L1 = 5-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2(3H)-thiolate and phen = 1,10-phenanthroline. The in vitro antibacterial activity of these complexes was investigated in isolation and synergistically with ciprofloxacin (CIP) and erythromycin (ERY) in three strains of Campylobacter jejuni (MIC = 32 mg/L for CIP and ERY), selected from a bank of 235 strains representative of three poultry exporting states of the country (A, B and C), previously analyzed for epidemiology and resistance to CIP and ERY. A total of 53/235 (22.55%) strains showed co-resistance to CIP and ERY. Isolated resistance to CIP was higher than to ERY. Epidemiological analysis showed that resistance to CIP was more evident in state B (p < 0.0001), as well as a higher susceptibility to ERY in state C (p = 0.0028). Co-resistance was expressive in state A and in the spring and fall seasons. The evaluation of I alone and in synergy with CIP and ERY found values up to 0.25 mg/L not significant for ERY. Complex II did not show an antimicrobial effect on the three strains of tested C. jejuni. The effect provided by complex I represents a promising alternative for control of resistant strains of C. jejuni.

Campylobacter jejuni is the most incriminated pathogen in bacterial gastroenteritis, and therefore, characteristics of its epidemiology must be continuously investigated to support possible mitigating measures. This is particularly important when evaluating representative strains of the world's leading chicken meat exporter, Brazil. We evaluated a panel of 14 virulence genes in 359 strains of C. jejuni isolated from chilled broiler carcasses of Brazil. The genes were classified into five virulence categories (B: biofilm/motility; SS: secretion/cytotoxicity system; CI: invasion/colonization; GB: Guillain-Barré and AE: adaptation to stress). The percentage of strains with stress adaptation genes (86.07%) indicates the potential to adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions and hcp gene in 97.77%, indicates the ability to cause serious infections in humans. Genes related to GBS in 77.44% of strains are an additional concern, which must be monitored. The gene panel showed the presence of 124 virulence profiles. Individual analyzes by carcass, slaughter establishment, and municipalities where they were located showed high I.Var., of 0.82, 0.87 and 0.78, respectively. Georeferencing indicated state A as a hotspot for virulent strains. Higher levels of isolation and multi-virulence were identified in the summer, which in Brazil is hot and humid. Proteomics was able to discriminate the strains, but due to the high heterogeneity between them, it did not allow to explain their dissemination. Together, our results showed that the studied strains are a potential danger to public health and that there is an urgent need for their surveillance and the adoption of control measures, especially in state A.