Exploring factors and trends in place of death by cancer: a population-based study in Brazil.

Background: The place of death profoundly affects end-of-life care quality, particularly in cancer. Assisting individuals at home enhances support, privacy, and control, reducing healthcare costs. This study seeks to elucidate factors associated and trends in place of death by cancer in Brazil. Methods: Using data obtained from the National Mortality Information System, this study extracted tumour topography, sociodemographic characteristics, and the place of death (outcome classified into hospital or home death) by cancer in Brazil from 2002 to 2021. Findings: The analysis included 3,677,415 cases, with 82.3% of deaths occurring in hospitals and 17.7% at home. Most participants were male (53.1%), had gastrointestinal tumours (32.2%), and resided in the Southeastern region (48.7%). Home deaths were more frequent in the Northeastern (30.2%) and Northern (24.8%) regions compared to the Southern (17.1%) and Southeastern (12.2%) regions. A strong inverse correlation was found between home deaths and the Human Development Index of the region. Over the years, there was a reduction in home deaths, followed by a recent increase. Individuals with no formal education, indigenous individuals, and patients from the North, Northeast, and Central-West regions had higher rates of home deaths, while patients with haematological malignancies had lower rates compared to those with gastrointestinal tumours. Interpretation: The minority of deaths by cancer in Brazil occur at home, with distinct trends over time. Home death was associated with regional, racial and educational level differences. Funding: No funding.

Universal Screening of SARS-CoV-2 of Oncology Healthcare Workers ­ a Brazilian experience

The first confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Brazil and Latin America was reported on February 26, 2020, in São Paulo. The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has placed unprecedented strain on health-care services worldwide. Asymptomatic health-care workers (HCW) are a potential source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, especially to immunocompromised Oncology patients. Screening of these HCWs may help contain transmission and isolate only those who require it. At Centro de Terapia Oncológica (CTO), an Oncology clinic in Petrópolis, RJ ­Brazil, all HCWs were screened for SARS-CoV-2 in order to isolate those who were asymptomatic/symptomatic and positive for the virus. They were all tested through IgM/IgG rapid testing and those who had symptoms were also tested with nasopharyngeal swabs for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests besides IgM/IgG reactivity. Amongst the 60 tested employees, 4 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were isolated. This method may be useful for health-care services to detect asymptomatic HCW and maintain workers' and patients' health, as transmission probability could be reduced while avoiding becoming short-staffed during this time of crisis.

Rapidly Progressive Disseminated Sporotrichosis as the First Presentation of HIV Infection in a Patient with a Very Low CD4 Cell Count.

Sporotrichosis is a human and animal disease caused by species of the Sporothrix schenckii complex. It is classically acquired through traumatic inoculation of fungal elements. Most frequently, sporotrichosis presents as a fixed cutaneous or as a lymphocutaneous form. A much smaller number of cases occur as cutaneous disseminated and disseminated forms. These cases require immediate diagnosis and management to reduce morbidity and mortality. We present the case of a 34-year-old male patient in whom the first presentation of HIV infection was a rapidly progressive sporotrichosis with multiple cutaneous lesions, a high fungal burden in tissues, and pulmonary involvement. He had an extremely low CD4 cell count (06/mm3). Treatment with amphotericin B deoxycholate led to complete clinical resolution. Sporotrichosis remains a neglected opportunistic infection among HIV-infected patients in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, and awareness of this potentially fatal infection is of utmost importance if treatment is not to be delayed and if potentially devastating complications are to be avoided.

An unusual case of bacillary angiomatosis in the oral cavity of an AIDS patient who had no concomitant tegumentary lesions - case report and review.

Bacillary angiomatosis (BA) is an angioproliferative disease of immunocompromised patients that usually presents as vascular tumors in the skin and subcutaneous tissues. It is caused by chronic infections with either Bartonella henselae or B. quintana. Oral cavity BA is exceedingly rare and even rarer without simultaneous cutaneous disease. We report herein the case of a 51-year-old HIV-infected man who presented severe odynophagia and an eroded lesion on the hard palate that progressed to an oronasal fistula. No cutaneous lesions were recorded. Doxycycline led to complete resolution. To the best of our knowledge, only six previous cases of oral BA without tegumentary disease have been previously reported and none of them progressed to fistula.