IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in Campinas, Brazil: evidence of intercontinental distribution of strains

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major concern in developing countries. In Brazil, few genotyping studies have been conducted to verify the number of IS6110 copies present in local prevalent strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the distribution and clustering of strains. IS6110 DNA fingerprinting was performed on a sample of M. tuberculosis isolates from patients with AFB smear-positive pulmonary TB, at a hospital in Brazil. The IS6110 profiles were analyzed and compared to a M. tuberculosis database of the Houston Tuberculosis Initiative, Houston, US. Seventy-six fingerprints were obtained from 98 patients. All M. tuberculosis strains had an IS6110 copy number between 5-21 allowing for differentiation of the isolates. Human immunodeficiency virus infection was confirmed in nearly half the patients of whom data was available. Fifty-eight strains had unique patterns, while 17 strains were grouped in 7 clusters (2 to 6 strains). When compared to the HTI database, 6 strains matched isolates from El Paso, Ciudad de Juarez, Houston, and New York. Recently acquired infections were documented in 19 percent of cases. The community transmission of infection is intense, since some clustered strains were recovered during the four-year study period. The intercontinental dissemination of M. tuberculosis strains is suspected by demonstration of identical fingerprints in a distant country

Recontaminação microbiana em artigos processados por autoclave e embalados em tecido e papel grau cirúrgico / The probability of microbial penetration in medical devices wrapped in woven and surgical grade paper associeted with plastic film and steam sterilized

O objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar a possibilidade de reontaminação microbiana em materiais médico-hospitalares esterelizados em autoclave a vapor e embalados em tecido e papel grau cirúrgico laminado com filme plástico. O trabalho analisou em dez tempos diferentes, durante 180 dias, a possibilidade derecontaminação de pacotes com 30 unidades de gazes, estocados em três unidades distintas em um hospital-escola...

Interaçäo in vitro entre o streptococcus pyogenes e a hemogloina S / In vitro interaction between streptococcus pyogenes and S hemoglobin

Investigou-se a interaçäo in vitro entre o Streptococcus pyogenes e a hemoglobina S, usando-se como controle a henoglobina normal A. O número de colônias de estreptococos nas placas de ágar sangue e a porcentagem de hemólise nas culturas de estreptococos em tubos de ensaio näo revelaram diferenças significativas entre as duas hemoglobinas. Em nível de exames microbiológicos, é pouco provável, portanto, que o Streptococcus pyogenes mostre alguma interaçäo peculiar com o sangue que contenha a hemoglobina S, diferentes da observada com o sangue com hemoglobina A. Nesse sentido, os resultados obtidos no presente trabalho näo favorecem a hipótese de que os portadores de hemoglobina S tenham alguma vantagem seletiva frente às infecçöes causadas pelos streptococos beta hemolíticos e suas complicaçöes