Cryptococcosis in patients living with hepatitis C and B viruses.

Cryptococcosis, a systemic fungal infection, has become a significant, global public health problem. Patients with liver disease have an increased predisposition to infections, such as Cryptococcosis. To report the underlying disease, the variety of etiologic agents involved and the outcomes of the Cryptococcosis in patients living with HBV and/or HCV, we reviewed 34 medical records of patients who were diagnosed with Cryptococcosis by the Mycology Laboratory of Santa Casa Hospital, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Tuberculosis recurrence in a high incidence setting for HIV and tuberculosis in Brazil.

Background: To compare epidemiological data between recurrent cases after cure (RC), distinguishing relapse from reinfection, after dropout (RD) and new cases (NC) in an ambulatory setting in a TB-endemic country.

Methods: Records of patients who started treatment for pulmonary TB between 2004 and 2010 in a TB clinic were reviewed. Epidemiological data were analyzed.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis of the RDRio genotype is the predominant cause of tuberculosis and associated with multidrug resistance in Porto Alegre City, South Brazil.

Spoligotyping has shown Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains to be composed of different lineages, and some of them are not just geographically restricted but also affect specific ethnic populations and are associated with outbreaks and drug resistance. We recently described a particular subtype within the Latin American-Mediterranean (LAM) family, called RD(Rio), widespread in Brazil. Moreover, recent data also indicate that RD(Rio) is present in many countries on all continents and is associated with cavitary disease and multidrug resistance (MDR).

Biological cost in Mycobacterium tuberculosis with mutations in the rpsL, rrs, rpoB, and katG genes.

When bacteria develop drug-resistant mutations, there is often an associated biological cost; however, some strains can exhibit low- or no-cost mutations. In the present study, a quantitative resazurin reduction assay was used to measure the biological cost of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates that contained different mutations in the rpsL, rrs, rpoB, and katG genes, and showed different resistance profiles. Biological costs were determined by comparing the growth curves of drug-resistant isolates with drug-susceptible strains.

Characteristics of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in southern Brazil.

A major threat to tuberculosis (TB) control programs is the emergence of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains that cause TB that cannot be cured by standard anti-TB drug regimens. Because few data exist on MDR-TB in this region of the country, we performed an epidemiologic study that combined conventional and molecular analysis of MDR-TB cases from Rio Grande do Sul (RS) that were diagnosed in this period and included cases that were under treatment with second line drug schemes. Included were 121 MDR cases and sequencing of rpoB and katG showed that 106 (87.

Streptomycin resistance and lineage-specific polymorphisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis gidB gene.

Mutations related to streptomycin resistance in the rpsL and rrs genes are well known and can explain about 70% of this phenotypic resistance. Recently, the gidB gene was found to be associated with low-level streptomycin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mutations in gidB have been reported with high frequency, and this gene appears to be very polymorphic, with frameshift and point mutations occurring in streptomycin-susceptible and streptomycin-resistant strains.

Clonal diversity of M. tuberculosis isolated in a sea port city in Brazil.

Genotyping tools have been widely used to study the occurrence of outbreaks and to identify the patterns of transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. The clonal diversity of 65 clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis was determined by PCR methods.

Identification of mutations related to streptomycin resistance in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and possible involvement of efflux mechanism.

The MIC for streptomycin in the presence of efflux pump (EP) inhibitors and the sequencing of rpsL, rrs, and gidB genes provided evidence for the possible participation of EP in low-level streptomycin (STR) resistance of some isolates without mutations. Mutation in the gidB gene and an EP could act synergistically to confer low STR resistance.