We performed an HTLV epidemiological study of 986 individuals from 17 villages from the same state of Salvador, the city with the highest HTLV-1 prevalence in Brazil. The HTLV-1 prevalence was 3.85%, 1.56%, and 1.23% in three villages. Phylogenetic analysis of the LTR region demonstrated that all positive samples analyzed belonged to the Transcontinental subgroup of the HTLV-1 Cosmopolitan subtype. Three of the new HTLV-1 sequences formed a well-supported clade within one of the Latin American clusters that contain a South African sequence. This Latin American cluster that segregated from the same ancestor as the other clade contained a Central African sequence. This ancestral relationship could support our previous report that suggests that this subgroup was first introduced into South Africa as a result of the migration of the Bantu population from Central Africa to Southern Africa over the past 3000 years, and afterward to Brazil during the slave trade between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

HTLV-1/HIV-1 co-infection is associated with severe clinical manifestations, marked immunodeficiency, and opportunistic pathogenic infections, as well as risk behavior. Salvador, the capital of the State of Bahia, Brazil, has the highest HTLV-1 prevalence (1.74%) found in Brazil. Few studies exist which describe this co-infection found in Salvador and its surrounding areas, much less investigate how these viruses circulate or assess the relationship between them. To describe the epidemiological and molecular features of HTLV in HIV co-infected women. To investigate the prevalence of HTLV/HIV co-infection in surrounding areas, as well as the molecular epidemiology of HTLV, a cross sectional study was carried out involving 107 women infected with HIV-1 from the STD/HIV/AIDS Reference Center located in the neighboring City of Feira de Santana. Patient samples were submitted to ELISA, and HTLV infection was confirmed using Western Blot and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Phylogenetic analysis using Neighbor-Joining (NJ) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) was performed on HTLV LTR sequences in order to gain further insights about molecular epidemiology and the origins of this virus in Bahia. Four out of five reactive samples were confirmed to be infected with HTLV-1, and one with HTLV-2. The seroprevalence of HTLV among HIV-1 co-infected women was 4.7%. Phylogenetic analysis of the LTR region from four HTLV-1 sequences showed that all isolates were clustered into the main Latin American group within the Transcontinental subgroup of the Cosmopolitan subtype. The HTLV-2 sequence was classified as the HTLV-2c subtype. It was also observed that four HTLV/HIV-1 co-infected women exhibited risk behavior with two having parenteral exposure, while another two were sex workers. This article describes the characteristics of co-infected patients. This co-infection is known to be severe and further studies should be conducted to confirm the suggestion that HTLV-1 is spreading from Salvador to surrounding areas.

The region known as pX in the 3′ end of the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) genome contains four overlapping open reading frames (ORF) that encode regulatory proteins. HTLV-1 ORF-I produces the protein p12 and its cleavage product p8. The functions of these proteins have been linked to immune evasion and viral infectivity and persistence. It is known that the HTLV-1 infection does not necessarily imply the development of pathological processes and here we evaluated whether natural mutations in HTLV-1 ORF-I can influence the proviral load and clinical manifestation of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). For that, we performed molecular characterization, datamining and phylogenetic analysis with HTLV-1 ORF-I sequences from 156 patients with negative or positive diagnosis for HAM/TSP. Our analyses demonstrated that some mutations may be associated with the outcome of HAM/TSP (C39R, L40F, P45L, S69G and R88K) or with proviral load (P34L and F61L). We further examined the presence of mutations in motifs of HBZ and observed that P45L mutation is located within the HBZ nuclear localization signal and was found more frequently between patients with HAM/TSP and high proviral load. These results indicate that some natural mutations are located in functional domains of ORF-I and suggests a potential association between these mutations and the proviral loads and development of HAM/TSP. Therefore it is necessary to conduct functional studies aimed at evaluating the impact of these mutations on the virus persistence and immune evasion.

Human T‐lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV‐1) is associated with adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL) and HTLV‐1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and has also been implicated in several disorders, including periodontal disease. The proviral load is an important biological marker for understanding HTLV‐1 pathogenesis and elucidating whether or not the virus is related to the clinical manifestation of the disease. This study describes the oral health profile of HTLV‐1 carriers and HAM/TSP patients in order to investigate the association between the proviral load in saliva and the severity of the periodontal disease and to examine virus intra‐host variations from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and saliva cells. It is a cross‐sectional analytical study of 90 individuals carried out from November 2006 to May 2008. Of the patients, 60 were HTLV‐1 positive and 30 were negative. Individuals from the HTLV‐1 positive and negative groups had similar mean age and social‐economic status. Data were analyzed using two available statistical software packages, STATA 8.0 and SPSS 11.0 to conduct frequency analysis. Differences of P < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. HTLV‐1 patients had poorer oral health status when compared to seronegative individuals. A weak positive correlation between blood and saliva proviral loads was observed. The mean values of proviral load in blood and saliva in patients with HAM/TSP was greater than those in HTLV‐1 carriers. The HTLV‐1 molecular analysis from PBMC and saliva specimens suggests that HTLV‐1 in saliva is due to lymphocyte infiltration from peripheral blood. A direct relationship between the proviral load in saliva and oral manifestations was observed. J. Med. Virol. 84:1428–1436, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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A gestão ambiental é fundamental para o desenvolvimento sustentável e deve contemplar cuidados no gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos (RS) gerados em escolas, considerando os instrumentos de políticas públicas para a viabilização desses processos. Este artigo tem como principal objetivo analisar o papel da Agenda Ambiental na Administração Pública (A3P) como contribuição para se pensar a gestão de materiais inservíveis em escolas públicas estaduais, visando obter elementos para práticas sustentáveis. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório, delineado por levantamento fotográfico e observação in loco da disposição e armazenamento de cadeiras e carteiras escolares em uma escola pública. Esta pesquisa documental tem como base legal a Lei nº 12.305/10 e como instrumento principal de análise a Cartilha Agenda Ambiental na Administração Pública (A3P), além da Portaria Conjunta SAEB/SEC, nº 036 de 24 de abril de 2015, que orienta sobre a retirada de bens móveis inservíveis em órgãos públicos. Os resultados apontaram uma gestão ambiental inadequada durante o descarte e a disposição interna de bens móveis escolares. A A3P pode contribuir com elementos para incorporação de princípios sobre responsabilidade socioambiental e práticas ambientais sustentáveis, que incluem a política dos RS e a Educação Ambiental para uma gestão e gerenciamento adequado dos resíduos gerados nas escolas públicas estaduais.

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ResumoO Programa de Saúde da Família (PSF) foi instituído há 20 anos no Brasil e exige reflexões atualizadas para seu aperfeiçoamento. Tendo se inspirado no modelo canadense, o PSF brasileiro se propõe a ser uma estratégia de enfrentamento dos riscos de agravos e condições de saúde contemporâneas baseada no modelo de abordagem biopsicossocial. Entretanto, a compreensão dos conceitos sobre comunidade, família, gênero e etnicidade precisam ser aprofundados para melhores resultados das estratégias utilizadas pelas equipes de saúde e pelos agentes comunitários.O objetivo desta análise documental foi comparar o SUS com o sistema de saúde canadense, discutindo possíveis causas dos determinantes sociais de saúde que persistem no Brasil dentro dos PSFs.Para isso, se confrontou os achados de programas nacionais e de programas canadenses, com a literatura científica no tema. Os resultados demonstram que o PSF brasileiro precisa de reestruturação para que haja uma verdadeira promoção da saúde. Dentre as principais necessidades, destacam-se um novo papel para os agentes comunitários de saúde, melhores condições e ampliação das equipes profissionais de saúde e reorganização do sistema quanto ao papel das mulheres e dos homens e dos diferentes grupos étnicos.Palavras chave: Estratégia Saúde da Família; Atenção Primária à Saúde; Sistema Único de Saúde.