Radioterapia com feixe de elétrons adjuvante à cirurgia de queloide gigante recalcitrante na orelha / Electron beam radiotherapy adjuvant to recalcitrant giant keloid surgery in the ear

O tratamento isolado do queloide apresenta resultado variável e, muitas vezes, insatisfatório. A combinação de terapêuticas tem se mostrado uma alternativa eficaz, principalmente para os casos recalcitrantes. A excisão cirúrgica e a irradiação no pós-operatório imediato com feixe de elétrons é uma alternativa efetiva na cicatrização e redução da taxa de recidiva dessas lesões. Os autores descrevem um paciente que apresentava queloide volumoso recalcitrante que obteve bom resultado terapêutico.

Isolated keloid treatment has variable and often unsatisfactory results. The combination of therapies has proven to be an effective alternative mainly for recalcitrant cases. Surgical excision and immediate postoperative electron beam irradiation is an effective alternative in healing and reducing the recurrence rate of these lesions. The authors describe a patient with recalcitrant bulky keloid who had a good therapeutic outcome.

Detection of Plasmodium in faeces of the New World primate Alouatta clamitans

Abstract Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax have evolved with host switches between non-human primates (NHPs) and humans. Studies on the infection dynamics of Plasmodium species in NHPs will improve our understanding of the evolution of these parasites; however, such studies are hampered by the difficulty of handling animals in the field. The aim of this study was to detect genomic DNA of Plasmodium species from the faeces of New World monkeys. Faecal samples from 23 Alouatta clamitans from the Centre for Biological Research of Indaial (Santa Catarina, Brazil) were collected. Extracted DNA from faecal samples was used for molecular diagnosis of malaria by nested polymerase chain reaction. One natural infection with Plasmodium simium was identified by amplification of DNA extracted from the faeces of A. clamitans. Extracted DNA from a captive NHP was also used for parasite genotyping. The detection limit of the technique was evaluated in vitro using an artificial mixture of cultured P. falciparum in NHP faeces and determined to be 6.5 parasites/µL. Faecal samples of New World primates can be used to detect malaria infections in field surveys and also to monitor the genetic variability of parasites and dynamics of infection.

Plasmodium simium/Plasmodium vivax infections in southern brown howler monkeys from the Atlantic Forest

Blood infection by the simian parasite, Plasmodium simium, was identified in captive (n = 45, 4.4%) and in wild Alouatta clamitans monkeys (n = 20, 35%) from the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil. A single malaria infection was symptomatic and the monkey presented clinical and haematological alterations. A high frequency of Plasmodium vivax-specific antibodies was detected among these monkeys, with 87% of the monkeys testing positive against P. vivax antigens. These findings highlight the possibility of malaria as a zoonosis in the remaining Atlantic Forest and its impact on the epidemiology of the disease.