Doença de além-mar: estudos comparativos da oncocercose na América Latina e África

Abstract

A oncocercose é causada por um verme parasita, a Onchocerca, e transmitida pelo mosquito borrachudo, simuliídeo, podendo causar cegueira em seu estado agudo. Oriunda do continente africano onde é disseminada, foi descoberta na América Latina, na Guatemala, em 1917, com registros posteriores no México, Venezuela, Colômbia e Brasil. O estabelecimento da doença nas Américas tem intrigado os especialistas, e ainda hoje é uma questão em aberto. O projeto multidisciplinar descrito nesta nota de pesquisa objetiva investigar os aspectos históricos da introdução e disseminação da doença na América Latina, e realizar estudos comparativos sobre a história da doença nos dois continentes. A importância que adquiriu acarretou a revalorização das coleções de simuliídeos, cujas espécies brasileiras começaram a ser estudadas por Adolpho Lutz no início do século XX. Round worm is a parasite, Onchocerca, and is transmitted by a black fly, simuliídeo; it can cause blindness. Originally from the African continent, where it is widespread, in Latin America it was first discovered in Guatemala in 1917; later instances were recorded in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. The establishment of this disease in the Americas has intrigued scientists since then and today it is an open question. The multidisciplinary project described in this research note aims to investigate historical aspects of the arrival and spread of the disease in Latin America and, to make comparative studies of the history of the disease on both continents. The increasing importance of the disease has meant greater value being attributed to collections of simuliídeo, whose Brazilian species were first studied by Adolpho Lutz at the beginning of the 20 th century.

Social sciences research in neglected tropical diseases 2: A bibliographic analysis

“…One research note that stood out for its potential described a "multidisciplinary project [that] aims to investigate historical aspects of the arrival and spread of the disease in Latin America and, to make comparative studies of the history of the disease on both [the African and South American] continents" [76]. The lack of any follow up papers reporting substantial results suggests that this incipient idea was not further developed.…”

“…There is no doubt that there is some important research being published. Examples such as the analysis of the policies of Metropolitan France and their effect on chikungunya on the Reunion and Mayotte islands [37]; the study of onchocerchal related stigma [74]; and the hint of a comparative, historical study of onchocerciasis in Africa and Latin America [76]; all point to the kind of critical social science research that is investigator driven, and is likely to have a direct impact on our understanding diseases in question, and when brought to the attention of policy makers should effect disease management. This is not to say that other social sciences studies did not do this, but rather that many of them conformed more to a model of adjuvant research described above rather than the kind of critical, investigator driven research that can guide our understanding and management of the NTDs in their own right.…”