Phlebotomines (Diptera: Psychodidae) from a Urban Park of Belém, Pará State, Northern Brazil and Potential Implications in the Transmission of American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

In urban ecotourism parks, the life cycle of American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) agents can remain established, where phlebotomines may comprise potential risks for visitors. The present study aimed to survey the phlebotomine fauna of a forest park 'Bosque Rodriques Alves-Jardim Botânico da Amazônia' (BRAJBA), in the urban area of Belém, Brazil. The park was monthly surveyed in 2018 using CDC light traps placed in ground and canopy strata. Leishmania spp. isolated from dissected females were characterized by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP) analysis. Fluctuations in specimen capture were correlated with rainfall. Nyssomyia antunesi (Coutinho, 1939) was predominant for all surveyed ecotopes and capture methods in both areas. Females of Ny. antunesi resting on tree bases were observed attempting to bite researchers during early morning. One Bichromomyia flaviscutellata (Mangabeira, 1942) and one Trichophoromyia brachipyga (Mangabeira, 1942) were found naturally infected by flagellates. Only the strain from Th. brachipyga was isolated and characterized as Leishmania (Viannia) lainsoni Silveira, Shaw, Braga and Ishikawa, 1987. Monthly fluctuations of the three most abundant species, Ny. antunesi, Trichophoromyia ubiquitalis (Mangabeira, 1942) and Th. brachypiga, had statistically significant negative correlations with rainfall. The present study provided further information to better understand ACL ecology in the Belém urban area, where the urban parks surveyed appeared to offer potential risk of contracting the disease, thus requiring environmental management. These observations highlighted the need for including Ny. antunesi, Bi. flaviscutellata, Th. ubiquitalis, and Th. brachypiga in the priority list for continuous entomological surveillance.

Importância da presença de granulações tóxicas para o diagnóstico hematológico de septicemia / The investigation of the presence of toxic granulation for septicemia hematologic diagnostic

Este trabalho visou investigar a associação da coexistência da presença de granulações tóxicas com resultados de hemocultura positivas, idade dos pacientes, condições de internamento e tipos de agentes bacterianos. Foi realizada análise retrospectiva e prospectiva, cega, para a presença de granulações tóxicas em amostras sangüíneas de trezentos pacientes, de ambos os sexos, internados em hospitais da Cidade de Belém - Pará, com solicitação de hemocultura, num período de dois anos. Com os hemogramas e as hemoculturas realizadas por métodos de automação, e todos os dados submetidos à metodologia de comparação estatística pelo Qui-quadrado (método de clump). Nossos resultados mostraram a existência de associação estatística entre: (1) a presença de granulações tóxicas e os resultados de hemoculturas positivas; (2) a menor idade dos pacientes (neonatos) associadas a hemocultura positiva; (3) a condição de internamento em UTI com hemocultura positiva; e (4) a presença de granulações tóxicas e a observação de leucocitose e desvio à esquerda, em pacientes internados em UTI, com hemoculturas positivas. E que os cinco principais agentes bacterianos identificados nas hemoculturas deste estudo foram Klebsiella oxytoca (22 por cento), Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (20 por cento), Escherichia coli (18 por cento), Enterobacter cloacae (14 por cento), e Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8 por cento).

This work aims at investigating the association of the presence of toxic granulation with positive blood cultures, age of patients, conditions of hospitalization and types of bacterial agents. Blind prospective and retrospective, analyses were carried out for the presence of toxic granulations-in blood samples of 300 patients of the both genders hospitalized in the City of Belém, Pará, Brazil. Request blood tests over a two year period were evaluated. The blood tests and cultures were performes using automated methods. All the data were statistically compared using the Qui-square test (clump method). The results show statistical associations between: (1) the presence of toxic granulations and positive blood cultures; (2) lower ages of patients (the newborn) and positive blood cultures; (3) hospitalization in the ICU and positive blood cultures and (4) toxic granulations-and the observation of leucocytosis and right-left shunts in patients hospitalized in the ICU with positive blood cultures. The commonest bacterial agents identified were klebsiella oxytoca (22 percent), Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (20 percent), Escherichia coli (18 percent), Enterobacter cloacae (14 percent), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8 percent).