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BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is affecting almost the entire world, causing more than four hundred thousand deaths and undermining the health care systems, as much as the economy, of the afflicted countries. The strategies for prevention depend on largely lacking information, as infection prevalence and virus pathogenicity. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, the pathogenicity, and the speed of infection spreading in a large population in Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a serial cross-sectional study designed on a population basis and structured over houses as the sampling units. The sampling consisted of four visits at 15 days intervals in randomly selected census-designated sectors of the State major municipalities (reference municipalities) and two visits at 30 days intervals in smaller municipalities of the same regions of those of reference. At each visit, the investigators sampled houses and sampled one individual in each house for data collection. After the informed consent, the investigators performed a rapid antibody detection test (Celer Technology, Inc) and applied a questionnaire containing clinical and demographic questions. RESULTS: From May 13th to 15th, the investigators performed 6,393 rapid tests in 4,612 individuals of the reference municipalities, 1,163 individuals of the smaller municipalities, and 166 contacts of the positive individuals. Ninety-seven dwellers were positive in the reference municipalities, giving a prevalence of 2.1% (CI 95%: 1.67-2.52%). In the smaller municipalities, the figure was 0.26% (CI 95%: 0.05%-0.75%) (three positives). There was an association of the positive result with female sex (p = 0.013) and houses with five dwellers or more (p = 0.003). Seventy-eight positive individuals reported symptoms in the previous 15 days (80.4%), being anosmia (45.4%), cough (40.2%), and myalgia (38.1%) the more frequent. About one-third of them reported fever (28.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The results reveal a still small prevalence of infection in the study area, despite the significant number of sick people overloading the health system. The figures indicate an important underreporting in the area and a frequency that still can grow, making necessary public health actions for the containment of the transmission.

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IntroductionThe use of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has dramatically reduced HIV-1 associated morbidity and mortality. However, HIV-1 infected individuals have increased rates of morbidity and mortality compared to the non-HIV-1 infected population and this appears to be related to end-organ diseases collectively referred to as Serious Non-AIDS Events (SNAEs). Circulating miRNAs are reported as promising biomarkers for a number of human disease conditions including those that constitute SNAEs. Our study sought to investigate the potential of selected miRNAs in predicting mortality in HIV-1 infected ART treated individuals.Materials and MethodsA set of miRNAs was chosen based on published associations with human disease conditions that constitute SNAEs. This case: control study compared 126 cases (individuals who died whilst on therapy), and 247 matched controls (individuals who remained alive). Cases and controls were ART treated participants of two pivotal HIV-1 trials. The relative abundance of each miRNA in serum was measured, by RTqPCR. Associations with mortality (all-cause, cardiovascular and malignancy) were assessed by logistic regression analysis. Correlations between miRNAs and CD4+ T cell count, hs-CRP, IL-6 and D-dimer were also assessed.ResultsNone of the selected miRNAs was associated with all-cause, cardiovascular or malignancy mortality. The levels of three miRNAs (miRs -21, -122 and -200a) correlated with IL-6 while miR-21 also correlated with D-dimer. Additionally, the abundance of miRs -31, -150 and -223, correlated with baseline CD4+ T cell count while the same three miRNAs plus miR-145 correlated with nadir CD4+ T cell count.DiscussionNo associations with mortality were found with any circulating miRNA studied. These results cast doubt onto the effectiveness of circulating miRNA as early predictors of mortality or the major underlying diseases that contribute to mortality in participants treated for HIV-1 infection.

Twelve cases of histoplasmosis in HIV-infected patients were found in a retrospective analysis at the Hospital Universitário Cassiano Antônio de Moraes of the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (HUCAM), Vitória (ES), from June 1999 to May 2001. The frequency of histoplasmosis among HIV-positive patients was 2.1% in the infectious diseases division of the hospital during this period. Histoplasmosis compromised mainly males (11/12), 27 to 44 years old, and residents of the metropolitan urban area (10/12). Alcohol abuse and tobacco smoking were described in 10 of the 12 patients. For all patients, this was the first opportunistic infection. Two of the 12 patients died; 10 patients had disseminated disease, one patient had an intestinal presentation and one had disease restricted to the lungs. The most frequent clinical manifestations were weight loss, fever, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly, coughing, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Six of the 12 patients had skin lesions. Time of symptoms preceding the diagnosis varied from two months to one year. CD4 counts were below 200 cells/mm(3) in 9 of 10 patients. Diagnosis was made by histology in two thirds of the patients. The typical adult patient with HIV infection and histoplasmosis in our series was male, had a CD4 count below 200 cells/mm(3), had fever, weight loss, cough, abdominal pain and hepatomegaly in the last two months or more, had a high probability of alcohol and tobacco addiction, was having his first opportunistic infection, and had no identifiable environmental exposure risk.

We designed a retrospective cohort study to identify factors associated with HIV-1 related lipodystrophy at a tertiary HIV-care center in Vitória, ES, Brazil. Inclusion criteria were documented HIV diagnosis, anti-retroviral therapy and age above 17 years. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was initially the exposure variable, but a second analysis was also performed, as a nested case-control, based on the presence or absence of lipodystrophy. Use of protease inhibitors (PI) was associated with an increase in serum triglycerides (243.7 +/- 189 mg/dL vs. 172.7 +/- 131 mg/dL, p = 0.015), but not of total cholesterol (TC) or HDL fraction levels. Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) were associated with an increase in serum TC (180.6 +/- 46.8 mg/dL versus 162.4 +/- 41.4 mg/dL; p= 0.018) and an increase in HDL cholesterol (47.3 +/- 13.8 mg/dL versus 23.3 +/- 24.3 mg/dL; p< 0.001), with no significant effect on triglyceride levels. Lipodystrophy was diagnosed in 59.3% of the patients, but exposure to PI versus NNRTI did not affect the frequency of this disorder (43.4% versus 37.2%; p = 0.68). Serum TC, but not HDL cholesterol or triglyceride levels, was higher among the lipodystrophy cases (183.8 +/-47.5 mg/dL versus 162.1 +/-35.7; p=0.006). Among the controls (patients without lipodystrophy), HDL cholesterol (45.3 +/-14.4 mg/dL vs. 27.1 +/-26.3; p=0.001)and triglyceride levels (178.3 +/-146.3 mg/dL vs. 126.3 +/-126.9; p=0.013) also increased, but not TC. In conclusion, lipodystrophy was highly prevalent in our series. Lipid disorders were also frequent and apparently were related to lipodystrophy, except for triglyceride levels.

In this study, patients co-infected with HIV and M. leprae had the typical histological lesions of leprosy. There was evidence of immune activation in patients who received combination antiretroviral therapy, and these patients had BT leprosy and leprosy-upgrading reactions.

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