Mortality due to respiratory diseases in the elderly after influenza vaccination campaigns in the Federal District, Brazil, 1996-2009.

Objective: To compare mortality rates due to respiratory diseases among elderly individuals residing in the Federal District of Brasília, Brazil, prior to and after the implementation of a national influenza vaccination campaign.

Methods: This was an ecological time series analysis. Data regarding the population of individuals who were over 60 years of age between 1996 and 2009 were obtained from official databases.

Patterns of antibacterials use in intensive care units.

Objective: To know and compare the patterns of antimicrobials use in intensive care units (ICUs) based on the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical/Defined Daily Dose (ATC/DDD) system.

Methods: a prospective cohort study was conducted in three medical-surgical intensive care units, two of them in public hospitals and one in a private hospital. Simple random, independent samples of patients admitted from 10/2004 to 09/2005 to the selected intensive care units were used.

Exposure to mixed asymptomatic infections with Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania braziliensis and Leishmania chagasi in the human population of the greater Amazon.

Lack of conservation of the Amazon tropical rainforest has imposed severe threats to its human population living in newly settled villages, resulting in outbreaks of some infectious diseases. We conducted a seroepidemiological survey of 1100 inhabitants of 15 villages of Paço do Lumiar County, Brazil. Thirty-five (3%) individuals had been exposed to Trypanosoma cruzi (Tc), 41 (4%) to Leishmania braziliensis (Lb) and 50 (4.

Specific human antibodies do not inhibit Trypanosoma cruzi oligopeptidase B and cathepsin B, and immunoglobulin G enhances the activity of trypomastigote-secreted oligopeptidase B.

Trypanosoma cruzi expresses oligopeptidase B and cathepsin B that have important functions in the interaction with mammalian host cells. In this study, we demonstrated that sera from both chagasic rabbits and humans have specific antibodies to highly purified native oligopeptidase B and cathepsin B. Levels of antibodies to cathepsin B were higher than those observed to oligopeptidase B by absorbance values recorded upon ELISA.

Heritable integration of kDNA minicircle sequences from Trypanosoma cruzi into the avian genome: insights into human Chagas disease.

We demonstrate the genetic transfer of DNA between eukaryotes from different kingdoms. The mitochondrial kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) of the intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is transferred to human patients with Chagas disease. This transfer was reproduced experimentally in rabbits and chickens.