Inflammatory and cytotoxic mediators in COVID-19 patients and in ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) vaccine recipients.

Immunological and cytotoxic mediators are induced in natural infection and are essential for the effectiveness of vaccination. Vaccination is useful to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and limit the morbidity/mortality of COVID-19. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is one of the most widespread vaccines in the world. We compared the detection of anti-S1 SARS-CoV2 IgG and the profile of inflammatory and cytotoxic responses of patients who developed different clinical outcomes of COVID-19 with individuals previously exposed or not to the virus received the first and booster doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. Plasma from 35 patients with COVID-19 and 11 vaccinated were evaluated by multiplex assay. Here, no vaccinated subjects had serious adverse effects. Those vaccinated with a booster dose had higher anti-S1 IgG than mild/moderate and recovered patients. Critically ill and deceased patients had IgG levels like those immunized. By univariate analysis, IL-2, IL-17, and perforin do not differentiate between patients and vaccinated individuals. Granzyme A increased at dose 1, while patients had their levels reduced. High levels of granulysin, sFas, and IL-6 were detected in the deaths, but after vaccination, all were declined. The multivariate analysis supports the role of IL-6 and granulysin as associated and non-confounding variables related to the worst clinical outcome of COVID-19, but not sFas. Our data confirm the ability of the ChAdOx1 vaccine to produce specific antibody levels up to booster time. Furthermore, our data suggest that the vaccine can regulate both the hyper-production and the kinetics of the production of inflammatory and cytotoxic mediators involved in the cytokine storm, such as granulysin and IL-6.

Coronavirus 2019 y personas en situación de calle en el estado de Mato Grosso, Brasil / Coronavirus 2019 and people living on the streets in Mato Grosso State, Brazil

Introducción: La expansión de Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) en nuevos territorios representa un gran desafío para la salud pública en el mundo, especialmente para países como Brasil, debido a sus amplias extensiones territoriales y desigualdades regionales. Objetivos: Describir, durante la pandemia, el brote de COVID-19 en una población sin hogar en el interior de Mato Grosso, Brasil. Métodos: Estudio descriptivo sobre un brote de COVID-19 en el interior del estado de Mato Grosso. Los datos fueron recolectados de los registros documentales de la investigación epidemiológica municipal, en línea con el Sistema Único de Salud. Resultados: Del caso índice, una persona en situación de calle que fue trasladada al albergue municipal de Tangará da Serra/Mato Grosso, 47 personas infectadas por Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) fueron confirmadas por pruebas serológicas y/o moleculares: (i) en el albergue: 8 personas en situación de calle y 5 empleados; (ii) contacto con el hogar de los empleados: 3 miembros de la familia; (iii) en la unidad hospitalaria: 19 profesionales y 6 pacientes en la unidad de cuidados intensivos. Conclusiones: La falta de protección individual fue un factor decisivo para la infección por SARS-CoV-2 en el caso índice y se extendió en el albergue por la participación de contactos en el hogar. Además de los profesionales en el entorno hospitalario, donde el brote se produjo debido a factores estructurales, la falta de equipos de protección personal adecuados y la falta de una cuidadosa adopción de la bioseguridad(AU)

Introduction: The expansion of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in new territories represents great challenge for public health in the world, especially for countries like Brazil, due to its wide territorial extensions and regional inequalities. Objectives: To describe, during the pandemic, the COVID-19 outbreak in homeless people in inner Mato Grosso, Brazil. Methods: A descriptive study on COVID-19 outbreak was carried out in inner Mato Grosso state. The data were collected from the documentary records of the municipal epidemiological investigation, in line with the Unified Health System. Results: From the index case, a person living on the street who was transferred to the municipal shelter in Tangará da Serra, Mato Grosso. Forty seven (47) people got infected by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and they were confirmed by serological tests and / or molecular: (i) in the shelter: 8 homeless people and 5 employees; (ii) contact with the employees' home: 3 family members; (iii) in the hospital unit: 19 professionals and 6 patients in the intensive care unit. Conclusions: The lack of individual protection was a critical factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the index case and it spreads in the shelter due to the involvement of domestic contacts. In addition to professionals in the hospital environment, where the outbreak occurred due to structural factors, the lack of adequate personal protection equipment and the lack of careful adoption of biosecurity(AU)

Rickettsia bellii, Rickettsia amblyommii, and Laguna Negra hantavirus in an Indian reserve in the Brazilian Amazon.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to identify the presence of rickettsia and hantavirus in wild rodents and arthropods in response to an outbreak of acute unidentified febrile illness among Indians in the Halataikwa Indian Reserve, northwest of the Mato Grosso state, in the Brazilian Amazon. Where previously surveillance data showed serologic evidence of rickettsia and hantavirus human infection. METHODS: The arthropods were collected from the healthy Indian population and by flagging vegetation in grassland or woodland along the peridomestic environment of the Indian reserve. Wild rodents were live-trapped in an area bordering the reserve limits, due the impossibility of capturing wild animals in the Indian reserve. The wild rodents were identified based on external and cranial morphology and karyotype. DNA was extracted from spleen or liver samples of rodents and from invertebrate (tick and louse) pools, and the molecular characterization of the rickettsia was through PCR and DNA sequencing of fragments of two rickettsial genes (gltA and ompA). In relation to hantavirus, rodent serum samples were serologically screened by IgG ELISA using the Araraquara-N antigen and total RNA was extracted from lung samples of IgG-positive rodents. The amplification of the complete S segment was performed. RESULTS: A total of 153 wild rodents, 121 louse, and 36 tick specimens were collected in 2010. Laguna Negra hantavirus was identified in Calomys callidus rodents and Rickettsia bellii, Rickettsia amblyommii were identified in Amblyomma cajennense ticks. CONCLUSIONS: Zoonotic diseases such as HCPS and spotted fever rickettsiosis are a public health threat and should be considered in outbreaks and acute febrile illnesses among Indian populations. The presence of the genome of rickettsias and hantavirus in animals in this Indian reserve reinforces the need to include these infectious agents in outbreak investigations of febrile cases in Indian populations.

Characterization of Juquitiba virus in Oligoryzomys fornesi from Brazilian Cerrado.

The Juquitiba virus, an agent of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome, is one of the most widely distributed hantavirus found in South America. It has been detected in Oligoryzomys nigripes, Akodon montensis, Oxymycterus judex, Akodon paranaensis in Brazil and in O. nigripes, Oryzomys sp. and Oligoryzomys fornesi rodents in Argentine, Paraguay and Uruguay. Here, we report the genomic characterization of the complete S segment from the Juquitiba strain, isolated from the lung tissues of O. fornesi, the presumed rodent reservoir of Anajatuba virus in Brazilian Amazon, captured in the Cerrado Biome, Brazil.