Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis to Prevent Hematophagous Bat-Mediated Rabies Outbreaks in Remote Amazon Communities: Lessons from a Pilot for Public Health Policy.

In 2018, an outbreak of human rabies caused by the hematophagous bat hit the Brazilian Amazon Basin community of Melgaço, Brazil, resulting in the death of 10 people, 9 of them children. The incidence of rabies has been on the rise among populations in conditions of vulnerability in this ecosystem due to human expansion into sylvatic environments and limited access to public health services. To address this issue, in September 2019, a collaborative effort from national, local, and international institutions promoted and executed a pilot for pre-exposure prophylaxis of a population in high-risk areas for hematophagous bat-mediated rabies.

Description of human anti-rabies post-exposure prophylaxis care notifications in Brazil, 2014-2019.

Objective: To analyze human anti-rabies post-exposure prophylaxis notifications in Brazil.

Methods: This was a descriptive study using data from the Notifiable Diseases Information System in Brazil, from 2014 to 2019.

Results: A total of 4,033,098 anti-rabies medical consultations were notified, averaging 672,183 a year.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of rabies and habitat suitability of the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus in Brazil.

Rabies transmitted by wildlife is now the main source of human rabies in the Americas. The common marmoset, Callithrix jacchus, is considered a reservoir of rabies causing sporadic and unpredictable human deaths in Brazil, but the extent of the spillover risk to humans remains unknown. In this study, we described the spatiotemporal dynamics of rabies affecting C.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: a cross-sectional study of cases and factors associated with deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, 2020.

Objective: To characterize the clinical-epidemiological profile of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children temporally associated with COVID-19 (MIS-C), and to identify factors associated with MIS-C deaths in Brazil, 2020.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, using national MIS-C monitoring data. Logistical regression was performed to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR).

Description of COVID-19 hospitalized health worker cases in the first nine weeks of the pandemic, Brazil, 2020.

Objective: To describe COVID-19 hospitalized health worker cases in Brazil.

Methods: This was a descriptive case series study; it included cases that became ill between February 21st and April 15th, 2020 registered on the Influenza Surveillance Information System (SIVEP-Gripe, acronym in Portuguese).

Results: Of the 184 cases, 110 (59.

Association and birth prevalence of microcephaly attributable to Zika virus infection among infants in Paraíba, Brazil, in 2015-16: a case-control study.

Background: In 2015, the number of infants born with microcephaly increased in Paraíba, Brazil, after a suspected Zika virus outbreak. We did a retrospective case-control investigation to assess the association of microcephaly and Zika virus.

Methods: We enrolled cases reported to the national database for microcephaly and born between Aug 1, 2015, and Feb 1, 2016, on the basis of their birth head circumference and total body length.

Outbreak of Guillain-Barré syndrome possibly related to prior Zika virus infection, Metropolitan Region of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, 2015.

Objetivo: to investigate the occurrence of GBS in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, PE, Brazil, 2015.

Methods: this was a descriptive study using data from the Hospital Information System, National Pharmaceutical Services Management System and interviews; GBS cases were classified according to Brighton criteria and prior infection according to laboratory and clinical criteria.

Results: in 2015, the number of GBS hospitalizations had a threefold increase in comparison to 2014.

Microcephaly in Piauí, Brazil: descriptive study during the Zika virus epidemic, 2015-2016.

Objective: to describe the occurrence and characteristics of microcephaly cases in Piauí, Brazil, during an epidemic of Zika virus infection in 2015-2016.

Methods: descriptive study using data of live births from January/2015 to January/2016, obtained from the Information System on Live Births (Sinasc), the Public Health Events Registry (RESP) and the active search for medical records; mothers and live births were tested for dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, besides syphilis, toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, and herpes (STORCH).

Results: of the 75 microcephaly cases, 34 were related to congenital infectious process; microcephaly prevalence was of 13.

Characteristics of the first cases of microcephaly possibly related to Zika virus reported in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil.

Objective: to describe the first cases of microcephaly possibly related to Zika virus in live born babies reported in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil.

Methods: this was a descriptive case series study (cases reported between August 1st and October 31st 2015), using medical record data and data from a questionnaire answered by the mothers of the babies.

Results: 40 microcephaly cases were confirmed, distributed in eight municipalities within the Metropolitan Region, with Recife itself having the highest concentration of cases (n=12); median head circumference was 29 cm, median chest girth was 31 cm and median weight was 2,628 grams; 21/25 cases had brain calcification, ventriculomegaly or lissencephaly; 27 of the 40 mothers reported rash during pregnancy, 20 in the first trimester and 7 in the second trimester, as well as itching, headache, myalgia and absence of fever.

Description of the first cases of Zika virus fever investigated in municipalities of the Brazilian Northeastern Region, 2015.

Objective: to confirm Zika virus circulation and discard other etiological agents in an outbreak occurred in the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Maranhão and Paraíba, in May, 2015.

Methods: this is a case series descriptive study with residents in Natal-RN, Barra do Corda-MA, São Luis-MA and João Pessoa-PB, with 20 cases in each state, presenting rash, absent or mild fever and one of the following signs/symptoms: conjunctival hyperemia, arthralgia or limb edema; RT-PCR/isolation tests for Zika, enterovirus and respiratory viruses, and serology tests (dengue, rubella and parvovirus B19) were performed.

Results: the main symptoms were rash (n=60), pruritus (n=54), and arthralgia (n=47); 51 individuals did not present fever; Zika virus was identified in 18 cases (12 in Paraíba, four in Maranhão and two in Rio Grande do Norte), and antibodies to dengue, in 14 cases.

Antemortem diagnosis of human rabies in a veterinarian infected when handling a herbivore in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The Ministry of Health's National Human Rabies Control Program advocates pre-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for professionals involved with animals that are at risk of contracting rabies. We report an antemortem and postmortem diagnosis of rabies in a veterinarian who became infected when handling herbivores with rabies. The antemortem diagnosis was carried out with a saliva sample and a biopsy of hair follicles using molecular biology techniques, while the postmortem diagnosis used a brain sample and conventional techniques.

Bat-transmitted human rabies outbreaks, Brazilian Amazon.

We describe 2 bat-transmitted outbreaks in remote, rural areas of Portel and Viseu Municipalities, Pará State, northern Brazil. Central nervous system specimens were taken after patients' deaths and underwent immunofluorescent assay and histopathologic examination for rabies antigens; also, specimens were injected intracerebrally into suckling mice in an attempt to isolate the virus. Strains obtained were antigenically and genetically characterized.

Waterborne toxoplasmosis, Brazil, from field to gene.

Water was the suspected vehicle of Toxoplasma gondii dissemination in a toxoplasmosis outbreak in Brazil. A case-control study and geographic mapping of cases were performed. T.