Human Q Fever on the Guiana Shield and Brazil: Recent Findings and Remaining Questions.

Purpose Of Review: In this review, we report on the state of knowledge about human Q fever in Brazil and on the Guiana Shield, an Amazonian region located in northeastern South America. There is a contrast between French Guiana, where the incidence of this disease is the highest in the world, and other countries where this disease is practically non-existent.

Recent Findings: Recent findings are essentially in French Guiana where a unique strain MST17 has been identified; it is probably more virulent than those usually found with a particularly marked pulmonary tropism, a mysterious animal reservoir, a geographical distribution that raises questions.

Structural Issues Associated with Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Use in Men Who Have Sex with Men.

Background: Limited access to healthcare has been associated with limited uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM). This descriptive analysis examined, in a near universal healthcare setting, differences between MSM reporting using versus not using PrEP in the past 12 months.

Method: Data come from the 2017 Boston sample of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) system, containing a venue-based and time-spaced sample of 530 MSM.

Q fever and spontaneous abortion.

Q fever, caused by Coxiella burnetii, may result in abortions in infected animals and pregnant women. However, the role that Q fever plays in spontaneous abortions is still unknown. This study examined the association between Q fever serology and abortion in a region where Q fever is endemic.

Epidemiological study of paracoccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis in a suburb of San Félix city, Bolívar state, Venezuela.

Epidemiologic studies of deep mycosis have been scarce in Bolivar state, where paracoccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis are considered as endemic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine paracoccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis prevalences in people from a suburb of San Féix, Bolívar state, Venezuela. Three-hundred volunteers agreed to participate in this study and they were inoculated with paracoccidioidine and histoplasmine.

[Adrenocortical function in patients with systemic mycoses].

The systemic mycoses like paracoccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis, are the main cause of adrenal insufficiency in the countries where they arc endemic. In Venezuela an elevated frequency of these mycoses has been registered. The objective of this study was to evaluate the glucocorticoid adrenal function in patients with paracoccidioidomycosis and histoplasmosis hospitalized in the University Hospital "Ruiz y Pácz" of Ciudad Bolivar (Bolivar state) and in the Hospital "Luis Felipe Rojas Guevara", of El Tigre (Anzoátegui state), Venezuela, between January 2003 and January 2004.