Assessment of control and epidemiologic details of the schistosomiasis mansoni in Bananal, São Paulo, Brazil.

The purpose of our study in the municipality of Bananal, state of São Paulo, Brazil, was to stop the transmission of schistosomiasis mansoni. Particular emphasis was given to such items as the active surveillance and eventual treatment of hosts, mapping parasite foci, and increasing the extent of basic sanitation in the municipality. Now, our records indicate that the eradication of schistosomiasis in the municipality of Bananal is attainable.

Abdominal ultrasound in the evaluation of fibrosis and portal hypertension in an area of schistosomiasis low endemicity.

This study was undertaken in the municipality of Bananal, São Paulo, an endemic area for schistosomiasis with a prevalence under 10% and low parasite load among infected individuals. Our objective was to identify the clinical forms of schistosomiasis among 109 patients in whom the disease had been diagnosed through direct fecal analysis and who had been medicated with oxamniquine at the time of the Plan for the Intensification of Schistosomiasis Control Actions (1998-2000). These patients were submitted to an abdominal ultrasonography and fecal analysis by Kato-Katz method, four years, on average, after the end of the Plan.

Characterization of reactions of antimoniate and meglumine antimoniate with a guanine ribonucleoside at different pH.

It has been shown previously that Sb(V) forms mono- and bis-adducts with adenine and guanine ribonucleosides, suggesting that ribonucleosides may be a target for pentavalent antimonial drugs in the treatment of leishmaniasis. In the present work, the reactions of antimoniate (KSb(OH)(6)) and meglumine antimoniate (MA) with guanosine 5'-monophosphate (GMP) have been characterized at 37 degrees C in aqueous solution and two different pH (5 and 6.5), using ESI(-)-MS and (1)H NMR.

[Observations on the use of TESA blot for the serological diagnosis of Chagas' disease].

TESA blot was compared with indirect hemagglutination, indirect immunofluorescence and ELISA tests. In sera from 30 participants infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, and in 30 non infected the four techniques produced entirely equivalent results, all positive and all negative, respectively. In cases admitted to be inconclusive or in visceral leishmaniasis, frequent false positives were detected.

[Evaluation of the efficacy of azithromycin and pyrimethamine, for treatment of experimental infection of mice with Toxoplasma gondii cystogenic strain].

The efficacy of prolonged administration of azithromycin and pyrimethamine was evaluated in mice experimentally infected with cystogenic strain of Toxoplasma gondii. The animals were intraperitoneally inoculated with one cyst of T. gondii and after 20 days were allocated into four groups: GI, infected without treatment; GII, infected and treated with the association of pyrimethamine (12.

[Blastocystosis: a high proportion of cases found in schoolchildren of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil].

As a part of medical assistance activities, parasitological examination of fecal samples from 227 school children from a public institution of São Paulo (SP) revealed a rather high proportion of results positive for Blastocystis hominis. Other protozoan and worm species were markedly scarcer, a peculiar situation according to our judgement. It is acknowledged that blastocystosis is still largely an indefinite and controversial subject, which deserves adequate analysis to avoid drawbacks in the sphere of action of public health and general medical assistance.

[Blastocystosis: controversy and indefinedness].

Blastocystosis is the infection caused by Blastocystis hominis. It is associated with frequent and unquestionably very important controversy and lack of definition, above all due to its implications for general assistance and medical care. In that connection, there is considerable disagreement on the subject of the pathogenicity of this protozoan, which should be categorically defined.

[The efficiency of the examination of compressed fecal samples for Schistosoma mansoni eggs].

The control of schistosomiasis depends mostly upon the sensitivity of stool examinations. We used both the Kato-Katz technique and the compression of samples between the slide and a polypropylene cover glass, according to Ferreira. Out of 1,282 samples collected between 1998 and 2000 in the Palha District, Municipality of Bananal, São Paulo State, Brazil, 105 (8.

Staining of intestinal protozoa with Heidenhain's iron hematoxylin.

Due to its unique properties, iron hematoxylin has been traditionally recommended for staining intestinal protozoa. This process can be simplified by reducing the number of steps and periods of permanence of the slides in some of the liquids used, without detriment to the quality of the results. Thus iron hematoxylin becomes adequate for routine use.

Microwave treatment of human milk to prevent transmission of Chagas disease.

It is recognized that breast feeding is an alternative means of transmission of Chagas disease. However, thermal treatment of milk can prevent this occurrence. As domestic microwave ovens are becoming commonplace, the efficacy of microwave thermal treatment in inactivating Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes in human milk was tested.

Schistosomiasis mansoni in Bananal (State of São Paulo, Brazil): I. Efficiency of diagnostic and treatment procedures.

Bananal is an important focus of Schistosoma mansoni in the State of São Paulo. Accordingly, programmed active search for human cases, annual coproscopic surveys and treatment of infected cases were started in 1998, aiming at producing a sharp prevalence rate drop by the year 2000. S.

Schistosomiasis mansoni in Bananal (State of São Paulo, Brazil): II. Intermediate hosts.

We conducted monthly snail captures in Bananal, State of São Paulo, Brazil, between March 1998 and February 2001, to identify Schistosoma mansoni vectors, estimate seasonal population changes, and delimit foci. We also evaluated the impact of improvements in city water supply and basic sanitation facilities. We identified 28,651 vector specimens, 28,438 as Biomphalaria tenagophila, 49 of them (0.