Epidemiological clinical profile and closure of chronic plantar ulcers in patients with leprosy sequelae undergoing orthopedic surgery in a municipality in western Amazon.

Introduction: Chronic plantar ulcers in leprosy are lesions resulting from motor and sensory alterations caused by Mycobacterium leprae. They are lesions refractory to conventional dressings and present high recurrence rates.

Objective: To evaluate the epidemiological clinical profile of patients with chronic plantar ulcers associated with bony prominences in the lesion bed and to evaluate the efficacy of orthopedic surgical treatment of these lesions.

Composition of sand fly fauna (Diptera: Psychodidae) and detection of Leishmania DNA (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) in different ecotopes from a rural settlement in the central Amazon, Brazil.

Background: Phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) are vectors of Leishmania species, the etiological agents of leishmaniasis, which is one of the most important emerging infectious diseases in the Americas. In the state of Amazonas in Brazil, anthropogenic activities encourage the presence of these insects around rural homes. The present study aimed to describe the composition and distribution of sand fly species diversity among the ecotopes (intradomicile, peridomicile and forest) in an area of American cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission and detect natural infection with Leishmania DNA to evaluate which vectors are inside houses and whether the presence of possible vectors represents a hazard of transmission.