ABSTRACT
Injuries caused by venomous snakes are considered a problem of public health in Brazil, and further studies for a better knowledge are very important. The aim of this work is to describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics that were observed from 1995 to 2000 in the Hospital for Tropical Diseases of Araguaína, Tocantins State, Brazil, which is a unit of health that takes care of patients suffering from tropical diseases. We studied 440 individuals and the most common characteristics observed were masculine sex, age among 15-45 years, bite in low members, and injuries caused by snakes of the Bothrops genus. The signs and symptoms more frequently observed were edema, pain, erythema, and bleeding. The most observed systemic manifestation was alteration of blood coagulation. The most frequent complications were abscess, necrosis, bacterial infection, and renal failure. The mortality rate was 3%. These data are very important for the evaluation of the problem
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Adolescent , Adult , Middle Aged , Bothrops , Brazil/epidemiology , Crotalid Venoms , Crotalus , Hospital Units , Snake VenomsABSTRACT
Fez-se o registro, na Amazonia, do primeiro caso humano de infeccao cutanea mista determinada por duas especies distintas de Leishmania: a Leishmania brasiliensis e a Leishmania mexicana amazonensis. As duas amostras, em questao foram isoladas de lesoes distintas de um mesmo paciente, e a caracterizacao das especies foi feita com base em observacao de infeccao experimentalem Lutzomya lingipalpis, e eletroforese de isoenzimas em gel de amido. Conclui-se ser de interesse o achado que, combirando com o fato ja conhecido de ausencia de imunidade cruzada entre a maioria das leishmanias, sugere a necessidade do emprego de uma vacina polivalente para a regiao