Postmortem Diagnosis of Dengue as an Epidemiological Surveillance Tool.

Dengue remains a problem in Brazil, and a substantial number of cases that progress to death are not diagnosed by health services. We evaluated the impact of a protocol adopted by the Coroner's Office Rocha Furtado (CO-RF) for the detection of unreported deaths from dengue in Brazil. We evaluated prospectively cases of deaths referred to the CO-RF with suspicion of dengue and those referred with other diagnosis in which the pathologists suspected dengue as the cause of death. Biological material was collected from all bodies autopsied, for which the suspected cause of death was dengue, between January 2011 and December 2012. Of the 214 bodies autopsied, 134 (62.6%) tested positive for dengue; of these cases, 121 were classified as dengue according to the World Health Organization's case definition (1997 or 2009, as appropriate). Thus, CO-RF detected 90 deaths from dengue, which were not suspected during disease progression. This CO-RF protocol, through a combined effort of the surveillance and laboratory teams, increased the detection of fatal dengue cases by 5-fold. This is the largest series of autopsies performed in cases of death related to dengue in the world to date.

Fatores Associados à Manutenção do Vício de Fumar e do Consumo de Álcool entre Acadêmicos de Medicina em uma Capital do Nordeste do Brasil / Factors Associated with Continued Smoking Addiction and Alcohol Consumption among Medical Students in Capital City in the Northeast of Brazil

RESUMO Introdução Há um aumento no consumo de drogas entre os jovens no Brasil. Esse consumo se destaca entre os estudantes universitários, acarretando uma preocupação adicional quando associado aos estudantes da área da saúde. Objetivo Identificar os fatores associados à manutenção do vício de fumar e do consumo de álcool entre acadêmicos de Medicina. Métodos Trata-se de um estudo analítico, de prevalência, envolvendo estudantes de Medicina das quatro escolas médicas da cidade de Fortaleza, Nordeste do Brasil. Foi aplicado um questionário semiestruturado, contendo 46 perguntas objetivas, aos estudantes que cursavam o primeiro ano (S1/S2) durante o ano de 2012 e novamente em 2016, quando esses mesmos estudantes se encontravam no internato (I3/I4). A amostra foi calculada considerando como população do estudo o número máximo de alunos nos dois períodos avaliados.O projeto foi aprovado pelo CEP, por meio do Parecer nº020/2012. Resultados Foram entrevistados 360 estudantes no primeiro momento da pesquisa e 354 estudantes no segundo momento. O consumo de tabaco passou de 17,4% durante o primeiro ano do curso para 28,2% durante o internato (p<0,001). O mesmo ocorreu com o consumo de álcool, que já era elevado no início do curso (84,6%) e aumentou para 92,6% (p<0,001). No primeiro ano do curso, 40,5% dos estudantes referiram já ter se embriagado pelo menos uma vez. Durante a faculdade, esse percentual subiu para 59,5% (RP=1,66; p<0,001). Conclusão O consumo de álcool e tabaco aumentou de forma importante durante o curso de Medicina. Há necessidade de intervenções nos hábitos dos acadêmicos de Medicina com o objetivo de reduzir o consumo exagerado de álcool e a manutenção do tabagismo nesta população.

ABSTRACT Introduction Drug use among young people in Brazil is increasing, particularly among the university students, leading to additional health-related concerns for students. Objective To identify factors associated with continued smoking addiction and alcohol consumption among medical students. Methods An analytical, prevalence study was carried out involving medical students at the four medical schools of Fortaleza, northeastern Brazil. A semi-structured questionnaire with 46 objective questions was applied to students in their first year of the course (S1/S2) in 2012 and again in 2016, when these same students were taking their internship (I3/I4). The sample was calculated based on a study population consisting of all the students in the two periods evaluated. The project was approved by the REC, through opinion no. 020/2012. Results 360 students were interviewed in the first phase of the research, and 354 students in the second phase. Tobacco consumption increased from 17.4% during the first year of the course to 28.2% during the internship (p <0.001). The same occurred with alcohol consumption, which was already high at the beginning of the course (84.6%) and increased to 92.6% (p <0.001). In the first year of the course, 40.5% of the students reported having got drunk at least once. During their time at medical school, this percentage rose to 59.5% (PR = 1.66, p <0.001). Conclusion Alcohol and tobacco consumption increased significantly during medical school. There is a need for interventions in the habits of medical student, in order to reduce excessive alcohol consumption and smoking in this population.