III Brazilian Thoracic Association Guidelines on tuberculosis.

New scientific articles about tuberculosis (TB) are published daily worldwide. However, it is difficult for health care workers, overloaded with work, to stay abreast of the latest research findings and to discern which information can and should be used in their daily practice on assisting TB patients. The purpose of the III Brazilian Thoracic Association (BTA) Guidelines on TB is to critically review the most recent national and international scientific information on TB, presenting an updated text with the most current and useful tools against TB to health care workers in our country.

Clinical and epidemiological features of 123 cases of cryptococcosis in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

To identify the clinical and epidemiological profile of cryptococcosis diagnosed at the University Hospital of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, medical records of 123 patients admitted from January 1995 to December 2005 were analyzed. One hundred and four cases (84.5%) had HIV infection, six (4.

[Anti-parvovirus B19 IgG antibody prevalence in pregnant women during antenatal follow-up and cases of non-immune hydropsis fetalis due to parvovirus B19, in the City of Rio de Janeiro].

With the aim of measuring the prevalence of anti-parvovirus B19 IgG antibodies during pregnancy up to 24 weeks of gestation and detecting cases of nonimmune hydrops fetalis, 249 sera from pregnant women attending a reference hospital in Rio de Janeiro city, from June 2003 to November 2004 were collected. They were followed-up until the end of pregnancy, with 17 cases of fetal hydrops detected. Four cases were caused by parvovirus B19 and two of them occurred in pregnant women living in the western zone of the city, during February 2005.

Prospective study on the prevention of vertical transmission of HIV in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, from 1996 to 2001.

This prospective study, involving 76 pregnant women infected with HIV, paired with their 79 exposed infants, was carried out between May 1996 and October 2001, at the Reference Department for Pregnant Women Infected with HIV in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. The mean age of the pregnant women was 24 years; 88% (67/76) apparently were infected due to sexual practices; 88% (67/76) were housewives; 823% (63/76) graduated from junior high school; 14.5% (11/76) reported co-infection with Hepatitis C, 9.

Lack of technical specificity in the molecular diagnosis of toxoplasmosis.

The polymerase chain reaction amplification of a fragment of the B1 gene of Toxoplasma gondii coupled to hybridization was performed in 42 patients from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The results showed 50% of positivity in the IgM positive toxoplasmosis group, and 12.5% in the positive IgG and negative IgM individuals.

Hepatitis C virus transfusion-transmitted infection in Brazilian cardiac surgery patients.

In the past two decades, major improvements in blood safety have been achieved, particularly for HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). A prospective study was carried out between 1996 and 1999 in Brazil to determine the incidence of post-transfusion infection in surgery patients caused by HCV. One hundred sixty-four patients who received a blood transfusion during cardiac surgery were followed for six months and blood samples collected before and after surgery were assessed to investigate HCV infection.

Toxoplasmic encephalitis in an HIV infected pregnant woman: successful outcome for both mother and child.

This report describes a case of Toxoplasma encephalitis during pregnancy of an HIV infected woman who was severely immunosuppressed (CD(4): 17 cells/mm3), had a high viral load (RNA PCR:230,000 copies/ml), was treated with sulfadiazine, pyrimethamine and folinic acid for toxoplasmosis and was being treated with highly potent antiretroviral drugs (AZT, 3TC and nelfinavir) for HIV infection. The newborn was born through an elective C-section, received six weeks of AZT according to the 076 protocol and was clinically normal at birth. Subsequently he had two RNA PCR negatives for HIV, seroreverted and had no clinical or laboratory evidence of congenital toxoplasmosis.