[Impact of the new intervention model to increase vaccination coverage in Paraguay, 2023Impacto de um novo modelo de ação para aumentar as coberturas vacinais no Paraguai, 2023].

Objective: To describe the impact of the new intervention model implemented by Paraguay across five districts of the Central Region in the last quarter of 2023, consisting of an integrated health services-based strategy to recover coverage with the tracer vaccine (pentavalent until April 2023, hexavalent thereafter) in children under 1 year of age; and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine for the 1-year-old population.

Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study with comparative analysis before (epidemiological weeks [EW] 1 and 34 of 2023) and after (EW35 and EW52 of 2023) the intervention. Three indicators were assessed: a) coverage with all three doses of pentavalent or hexavalent vaccine and first and second doses of MMR; b) productivity, represented by third doses of pentavalent or hexavalent vaccine administered; and c) dropout rates for the pentavalent or hexavalent and MMR vaccines.

Ramsay-Hunt syndrome: Report of two cases with identification of the varicella zoster virus genome in cerebrospinal fluid.

Like other alpha-herpesviruses, the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) remains latent in the neural ganglia following the primary varicella infection. The reactivation of the VZV in the dorsal root ganglia results in herpes zoster. Herpes zoster eruption is characterized by localized cutaneous lesions and neuralgic pain mostly in older and immunocompromised persons, especially those living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Early signs of toxicity in testes and sperm of rats exposed to low cadmium doses.

The cadmium (Cd) concentration in the environment has increased as a consequence of anthropogenic activity. The objective of this study was to determine early signs of Cd toxicity in testes and sperm as possible biomarkers. The dose orally administered to Wistar rats was within the range where chronic toxicity can appear.

MENINGOENCEPHALITIS DUE TO VARICELLA ZOSTER VIRUS IN AIDS PATIENTS. REPORT OF ELEVEN CASES AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.

Neurological complications of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) are infrequent and include various clinical pictures. The reactivation of VZV in patients with AIDS is generally associated with an acute and severe meningoencephalitis. We report the epidemiological, clinical and virological data from 11 consecutive patients with diagnosis of HIV/AIDS and central nervous system (CNS) involvement due to VZV.

[Hip tuberculosis. Case report and literature review].

Osteoarticular tuberculosis is a rare complication of the disseminated disease and appears, in different series, between 10% to 20%, trough hematogenous spread. Tuberculosis hip involvement is less than 10% of all the cases of osteoarticular tuberculosis. The diagnosis is confirmed by the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in samples obtained from joint fluid or synovial membrane biopsy by direct examination and culture, in order to perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing.