Development of Hepatozoon caimani (Carini, 1909) Pessôa, De Biasi & De Souza, 1972 in the Caiman Caiman c. crocodilus, the frog Rana catesbeiana and the mosquito Culex fatigans

The sporogony of Hepatozoon caimani has been studied, by light microscopy, in the mosquito Culex fatigans fed on specimens of the caiman Caiman c. crocodilus showing gametocytes in their peripheral blood. Sporonts iniciate development in the space between the epithelium of the insect gut and the elastic membrane covering the haemocoele surface of the stomach. Sporulating oocysts are clustered on the gut, still invested by the gut surface membrane. Fully mature oocysts were first seen 21 days after the blood-meal. No sporogonic stages were found in some unidentified leeches fed on an infected caiman, up to 30 days following the blood-meal. When mosquitoes containing mature oocysts were fed to frogs (Leptodactylus fuscus and Rana catesbeiana), cysts containing cystozoites developed in the internal organs, principally the liver. Feeding these frogs to farm-bred caimans resulted in the appearance of gametocytes in their peripheral blood at some time between 59 and 79 days later, and the development of tissue cysts in the liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys. Transmission of the parasite was also obtained by feeding young caimans with infected mosquitoes and it is suggested that both methods occur in nature. The finding of similar cysts containing cystozoites in the semi-aquatic lizard Neusticurus bicarinatus, experimentally fed with infected C. fatigans, suggests that other secondary hosts may be involved

Species diversity and flagellate infections in the sand fly sauna near Porto Grande, State of Amapá, Brazil (Diptera: Psychodidae. Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae)

Forty-six species of Lutzomyia and one species of Brumptomyia were identified among 20,008 sand flies collected in central Amapá. L. squamiventris maripaensis, L. infraspinosa, L. umbratilis and L. ubiquitalis accounted for 66 percent of the specimens caught in light traps, and L. umbratilis was the commonest of the 16 species found on tree bases. Seven species of Lutzomyia including L. umbratilis were collected in a plantation of Caribbean pine. Sixty out of 511 female sand flies dissected were positive for flagellates. Among the sand flies from which Leishmania was isolated, promastigotes were observed in the salivary glands and foregut of 13 out of 21 females scored as having very heavy infections in the remainder of the gut, reinforcing the idea that salivary gland invasion may be part of the normal life cycle of Leishmania in nature. Salivary gland infections were detected in specimens of L. umbratilis, L. whitmani and L. spathotrichia. Parasites isolated from L. umbratilis, L. whitmani and also from one specimen of L. dendrophyla containing the remains of a bloodmeal, were compatible with Le. guyanensis by morphology and behaviour in hamsters

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis: a mycologic and immunochemical study of a sample isolated from a armadillo (Dasipus novencinctus)

Amostra de Paracoccidioides brasiliensis isolada de visceras (baco e figado) de um tatu (Dasipus novencintus)foi estudada no ponto de vista micologico e imunoquimico. O tatu havia sido capturado em area da usina hidroeletrica de Tucurui (Estado do Para). Este ja havia sido considerado como reservatorio enzootico do Paracoccidioides brasiliensis naquela regiao. Esta amostra, conservada na Micoteca do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo sob o numero 135, apresenta todas as caracteristicas de Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, com elevado poder antigenico e baixa virulencia para cobaios e ratos Wistar. A demonstracao do exo-antigeno especifico do P. brasiliensis, representado pela glicoproteina de peso molecular 43 KDa, foi evidente atraves das tecnicas de Imunodifusao Dupla, Imunoeletroforese, SDS-PAGE e Imunoblotting.

Leishmaniose no Estado do Amazonas: aspectos epidemiológicos, clinicos, terapêuticos / Leishmaniasis in the State of Amazonas-Brazil: epidemiological, clinical and therapeutical aspects

No presente säo estudados os principais aspectos relacionados a doenças vetores, reservatórios, agentes etiológicos e terapêutica da leishmaniose tegumentar americana no Estado do Amazonas. Resalta-se a importância epidemiológica da leishmaniose na Amazônia como um todo e, em particular, na periferia urbana de Manaus. As dificuladades na resposta terapêutica com a N-metilglucamina e os resultados encorajadores com a pentamidina säo, também, discutidos

Encuesta epidemiologica de histoplasmosis, paracoccidioidomicosis y leishmaniasis mediante pruebas cutaneas / Epidemiological survey of histoplasmosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, and leishmaniasis based on skin tests

In a village in Brazil's Amazonian jungle, skin test with histoplasmin, paracoccidioidin, and leishmanin were given to a group of 400 subjects aged 10 and older, of both sexes, who also responded to a questionnaire on their history of infectious diseases, There was a high prevalence of positive results in the three tests. The pattern of the results supports the hypothesis that testing with two mycotic antigens does not produce cross-reactions in asymptomatic subjects and that the sources of exposure to the fungi are probably independent. The positive reaction to leishmanin in males was related to farming activities, hunting, fishing, and the collection of firewood; the reactions in females showed a limited correlation with fishing and a much stronger one with the collection of firewood. With the mycotic antigens, the positive reactions were no associated with any of these activities. There was a high correlation of results using a leishmanin obtained from Leishmania Mexicana amazonensis and a combined leishmanin obtained from Leishmania mexicana and Leishmania brasiliensis. The diameter of induration was generally larger for the latter of these antigens, which induced some very intense responses. The frequency distribution of the magnitude of reaction was heterogeneous in subjects with positive reactions to both leishmanin and paracoccidioidin. Evidence that these findings are consistent with

Observaciones sobre el parasito leishmania mexicana amazonensis y la infeccion natural que provoca en el flebotomo lutzomyia olmeca nociva / Observations on the parasite leishmania mexicana amazonensis and its natural infection of the sand fly lutzomyia olmeca nociva

In 1984 the authors began a search for vectors of the Leishmania mexicana amazonensis parasite in the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus by capturing phlebotomines (sandflies) at two periurban collection sites and seeking to isolate the parasite from them. One collection site yielded no positive specimens, but the older yielded 10 sandflies infected with Le m. amazonensis. Six of the positive specimens belonged to the sandfly species Lutzomyia flaviscutellata, and four belonged to the species Lu. olmeca nociva. This is the first time that the latter species has been incriminated as a possible vector of Le. m. amazonensis and the first record of Lu. flaviscutellata being infected with this parasite outside of Para State. The capture of infected phlebotomines at one site but no at another similar nearby site is reminiscent of previous results reported by Lainson and Shaw. Whether or not these results indicate the existence of discrete transmission foci is still unclear

Paracoccidiodomicose enzóotica em tatus (Dasypus novemcinctus) no Estado do Pará / Enzootic paracoccidioidomycosis in armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) in the state of Pará

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis foi encontrado, por inoculaçäo de triturado de fígado e baço em hamsters, em 4 de 20 tatus (Dasypus novemcinctus) examinados na regiäo de Tucuruí, Pará. Hamsters inoculados por via intradérmica e peritoneal com o parasito desenvolveram infecçöes generalizadas e morreram em 1 1/2 a 13 meses. A diagnose do fungo foi confirmada por histopatologia e cultura. Näo se observaram sinais macroscópios de doenças nos tatus. A distribuiçäo geográfica de D. novemcinctus abrange a área endêmica de paracoccidioidomicose humana, sugerindo-se que o tatu tenha algum papel na ecologia do fungo

Tratamento da leishmaniose tegumentar americana: resultados preliminares com a pentamidina / Treatment of American cutaneous leishmaniasis: first results with pentamidine

Säo apresentados os resultados preliminares de 19 pacientes portadores de leishmaniose tegumentar americana, tratados com pentamidina. Em seis doentes, empregou-se esquema terapêutico de três aplicaçöes, em intervalos de dois dias, utilizando-se doses de 4mg/kg de peso em cada aplicaçäo. Nos outros enfermos, a droga foi utilizada, na mesma posologia, até a cicatrizaçäo das lesöes- total de quatro a nove aplicaçöes. Verificou-se a cicatrizaçäo das lesöes em todos os casos