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Abstract. A Brazilian ranch worker with encephalitis and flaccid paralysis was evaluated in the regional Acute

SUMMARYThe AIDS epidemic has become a worldwide phenomenon of enormous magnitude and extension, deeply transforming medical practices and public health initiatives. This retrospective survey aimed to analyze clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with HIV/AIDS admitted to the Institute of Tropical Diseases Natan Portella, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, from January, 2001 through December, 2004. Of the 828 patients, 43% were from other states and 71.3% were men. Average patient age was 35.4 ± 11.5 years-old and 85.5% were illiterate or had primary education. The main form of exposure to HIV was heterosexual behavior (54.1%), while injectable drug use was confirmed by only 2.7% of registered cases. The most frequent infectious complications were candidiasis (42.4%) and pneumocystosis (22.2%). Sixty-eight cases (8.2%) of visceral leishmaniasis were registered. Using multivariate analysis, individuals aged over 40 years-old, patients with active tuberculosis, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and central nervous system cryptococcosis showed increased risk of death. In this study, young male adults with low educational levels predominated and the most frequent opportunistic infections were candidiasis and pneumocystosis.

BackgroundSince 1991 several outbreaks of acute coccidioidomycosis (CM) were diagnosed in the semi-arid Northeast of Brazil, mainly related to disturbance of armadillo burrows caused by hunters while digging them for the capture of these animals. This activity causes dust contaminated with arthroconidia of Coccidioides posadasii, which, once inhaled, cause the mycosis. We report on the identification of C. posadasii in soil samples related to outbreaks of CM.ResultsTwenty four soil samples had their DNA extracted and subsequently submitted to a semi-nested PCR technique using specific primers. While only 6 (25%) soil samples were positive for C. posadasii by mice inoculation, all (100%) were positive by the molecular tool.ConclusionThis methodology represents a simple, sensitive and specific molecular technique to determine the environmental distribution of Coccidioides spp. in endemic areas, but cannot distinguish the species. Moreover, it may be useful to identify culture isolates. Key-words: 1. Coccidioidomycosis. 2. Coccidioides spp. 3. C. posadasii. 4. Semi-arid. 5. Semi-nested PCR