Genetic variants in 17q12-21 locus and childhood asthma in Brazil: Interaction with Varicella zoster virus seropositivity.

Background: Asthma is a complex disease with worldwide public health relevance, is related to environmental causes and a genetic predisposition. The chromosomal 17q12-21 locus has been consistently demonstrated to be associated with asthma risk. The effects of variants in the 17q12-21 locus on childhood asthma were first identified in a genome wide- association study.

Symptoms of asthma and associated factors in adolescents from Salvador, Bahia.

Objective: Identify the factors associated with asthma symptoms in adolescents.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with the participation of 1,176 students between the ages of 11 and 17 years old, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The asthma symptoms were identified by using the standardized questionnaire from The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood Program (ISAAC), phase III.

A genome-wide association study of asthma symptoms in Latin American children.

Background: Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways and, despite the advances in the knowledge of associated genetic regions in recent years, their mechanisms have yet to be explored. Several genome-wide association studies have been carried out in recent years, but none of these have involved Latin American populations with a high level of miscegenation, as is seen in the Brazilian population.

Methods: 1246 children were recruited from a longitudinal cohort study in Salvador, Brazil.

Effects of helminth co-infections on atopy, asthma and cytokine production in children living in a poor urban area in Latin America.

Background: Helminths are modulators of the host immune system, and infections with these parasites have been associated with protection against allergies and autoimmune diseases. The human host is often infected with multiple helminth parasites and most studies to date have investigated the effects of helminths in the context of infections with single parasite or types of parasites (e.g.