Isolamento da Yersinia pestis nos focos pestosos do Nordeste do Brasil no período de 1966 a 1982

Abstract

No período de 1966 a 1982 foram isoladas 861 cepas de Yersinia pestis sendo 471 originadas de material de roedores e outros pequenos mamíferos, 236 de lotes de pulgas, 2 de lotes de Ornithodorus e 152 de seres humanos dos focos pestosos do Nordeste do Brasil. Entre os roedores, a espécie que concorreu para o maior número de isolamentos foi o Zygodontomys lasiurus pixuna que, também, forneceu o maior número de lotes de pulgas naturalmente infectados, principalmente do gênero Polygenis. O isolamento da Yersinia pestis de material proveniente de 13 Municípios do Estado de Pernambuco, 7 do Ceará, 3 da Paraíba, 1 do Piauí e 1 da Bahia, evidencia que o problema da peste nos focos brasileiros é bastante atual e merecedor de atenção. O maior número de cepas isoladas e de localidades afetadas, registradas no Estado de Pernambuco não significa maior incidência da peste no mesmo, mas é conseqüência da pesquisa mais intensa da Yersinia pestis e da existência de laboratórios melhor preparados para o seu diagnóstico neste Estado.

Ecology and Geography of Plague Transmission Areas in Northeastern Brazil

“…However, understanding the limitations of these models is critical, prior to any detailed interpretation or exploration. First and foremost among the limitations of this study are the occurrence data used as input: we relied on human case-occurrence reports accumulated by the Serviço Nacional de Referência em Peste do Centro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães and published in diverse scientific publications [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [13] . Our use of these data thereby assumes that human case-occurrences are representative of the ecological and environmental situations under which plague is maintained in the zoonotic world, which may not be the case, given the long chain of events necessary for a zoonotic occurrence to be represented in our data set (i.e., transmission to human, correct diagnosis, international reporting).…”

“…We drew occurrence data from the Serviço Nacional de Referência em Peste do Centro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães, Recife, Pernambuco. The data cover the period 1966-present, and represent only cases with laboratory confirmation by means of bacteriological examination or serological testing [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [13] .…”

Homology among extra-cryptic DNA bands and the typical plasmids in Brazilian Yersinia pestis strains

“…The Y. pestis strains studied were obtained from the bacterial collection of the Centro de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães (1,2,13,14). Since isolation, they have been stored in stabs of Blood Agar Base (BAB, Difco), at +4 o C. Subculturing some of these isolates, for different purposes, at different periods, originated some spontaneous variants.…”

“…During the period of 1966 to 1997, we have isolated 882 strains of Y. pestis from different hosts and distinct geographic foci (1,2). A preliminary evaluation of the plasmid content of 26 of these strains freshly isolated during a plague outbreak (13) has revealed a homogeneous pattern composed of the three wellcharacterized Y. pestis plasmids: pFra (90-110 kb), pYV (70 kb) and pPst (9.5 kb), plus an extra-cryptic DNA band of about 23 kb (13).…”

Diagnosis of plague and identification of virulence markers in Yersinia pestis by multiplex-PCR

“…In Brazil there are several natural plague foci distributed mainly in the Northeastern region, where the bacteria remain among the rodents and their fleas, occasionally reaching man 1,2,4 . Cycles of plague outbreaks in the Brazilian foci alternate with periods of quiescence of 5 to 10 years.…”