Previous BCG vaccination is associated with less severe clinical progression of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: BCG vaccination, originally used to prevent tuberculosis, is known to "train" the immune system to improve defence against viral respiratory infections. We investigated whether a previous BCG vaccination is associated with less severe clinical progression of COVID-19 METHODS: A case-control study comparing the proportion with a BCG vaccine scar (indicating previous vaccination) in cases and controls presenting with COVID-19 to health units in Brazil. Cases were subjects with severe COVID-19 (O2 saturation < 90%, severe respiratory effort, severe pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, sepsis, and septic shock). Controls had COVID-19 not meeting the definition of "severe" above. Unconditional regression was used to estimate vaccine protection against clinical progression to severe disease, with strict control for age, comorbidity, sex, educational level, race/colour, and municipality. Internal matching and conditional regression were used for sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: BCG was associated with high protection against COVID-19 clinical progression, over 87% (95% CI 74-93%) in subjects aged 60 or less and 35% (95% CI - 44-71%) in older subjects. CONCLUSIONS: This protection may be relevant for public health in settings where COVID-19 vaccine coverage is still low and may have implications for research to identify vaccine candidates for COVID-19 that are broadly protective against mortality from future variants. Further research into the immunomodulatory effects of BCG may inform COVID-19 therapeutic research.

Phylogenetic analysis of G1P[6] group A rotavirus strains detected in Northeast Brazilian children fully vaccinated with Rotarix™.

In 2009 the World Health Organization recommended the use of group A rotavirus (RVA) vaccines in all national immunization programs (NIPs) in order to control severe RVA gastroenteritis disease. In Brazil, Rotarix™ was introduced in the NIP in March 2006, and a significant reduction in mortality rates among children ≤ 5 years old was observed, especially in the Northern and Northeastern Brazil. In the current study the 11 gene segments of six Brazilian G1P[6] RVA strains, isolated in 2009 and 2010 from vaccinated children, were analyzed in order to investigate if the genetic composition of these strains might help to elucidate why they were able to cause acute gastroenteritis in vaccinated children. All six Brazilian RVA strains revealed a complete Wa-like genotype constellation: G1-P[6]-I1-R1-C1-M1-A1-N1-T1-E1-H1. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all six strains were nearly identical and showed a close genetic relationship with contemporary typical human Wa-like RVA strains. These results suggests that the fact that these strains were able to cause acute gastroenteritis in vaccinated children is likely not due to the genetic background of the strains, but rather to other factors such as host relating factors, co-infecting pathogens or vaccine efficacy. P[6] RVA strains are detected rather occasionally in humans in most regions of the world, except for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, recently two studies conducted in Brazil showed the circulation of G12P[6] and G2P[6]. This is the first report on the detection and complete genome analyses of G1P[6] RVA strains in Brazil. Surveillance studies will be crucial to further investigate the prevalence of this genotype in the Brazilian population, and the efficacy of current licensed vaccines, which do not contain the P[6] genotype.

Epidemiologia da leishmaniose tegumentar americana e suas relaçöes com a lavoura e o garimpo, em localidade do Estado da Bahia (Brasil) / Epidemiology of leishmaniasis related to agriculture and prospecting in a locality of the State of Bahia, Brazil

Realizou-se um estudo sobre a associaçäo entre infecçäo leishmaniòtica e a ocupaçäo dos indivíduos em Lençòis-Bahia (Brasil). Foram utilizados um questionário com variáveis biològicas, sociais e econômicas e o teste de Montenegro. Houve captura de flebotomíneos em locais peri e intra-domiciliares. Encontrou-se maior prevalência da infecçäo no grupo ocupacional de lavradores/garimpeiros em comparaçäo às demais ocupaçöes. Explica-se esse resultado em razäo da dupla exposiçäo dos lavradores/garimpeiros à leishmaniose tegumentar americana, em sua área de moradia e local de trabalho .

Avaliaçäo de centros de saúde em Salvador, 1980 / Evaluation of health centers in Salvador, Brazil, 1980

Com o objetivo de examinar aspectos qualitativos da atençäo médica em quatro Centros de Saúde do Instituto de Saúde do Estado da Bahia - ISEB, situados em Salvador, em 1980, foi realizado um estudo baseado em anotaçöes contidas nas Fichas Clínicas de pacientes que tiveram a sua primeira consulta nas referidas Unidades de Saúde entre 1 de janeiro e 31 de dezembro de 1980. Foi observado que existiu uma predominância de atendimentos nos serviços do tipo curativo e os autores chamam a atençäo para a pouca modificaçäo na qualidade dos atendimentos quando comparados aos do ano de 1976