Detection of anti-Borrelia and anti-Babesia antibodies in the serum of children with clinical manifestations and compatible epidemiology with Lyme-Like disease in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul

A ocorrência de manifestações clínicas e laboratoriais semelhantes às encontradas na doença de Lyme e da coinfecção com a babesiose já foi demonstrada em trabalhos anteriores em adultos, porém não existem estudos desta natureza em crianças. OBJETIVO: Caracterizar o perfil clínico-epidemiológico da síndrome de Lyme-Símile em crianças do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul e avaliar a prevalência dos anticorpos anti-Borrelia burgdorferi e anti-Babesia bovis no soro de pacientes que preencheram os critérios estabelecidos. MÉTODOS: 100 pacientes entre 9 meses e 16 anos de idade foram submetidos à pesquisa dos anticorpos pela técnica de ELISA e a soroprevalência foi comparada com um grupo-controle. RESULTADOS: Positividade para anticorpos anti-B. burgdorferi ocorreu em 27% dos pacientes com suspeita clínica, sendo 17% IgM e 12% IgG. As manifestações articulares ocorreram em 21 pacientes, as manifestações cutâneas em três pacientes e as manifestações neurológicas em três pacientes. A prevalência de anticorpos contra B. burgdorferi nos pacientes do grupo-controle foi de 15% (p < 0,05). Os anticorpos anti-B. bovis estiveram presentes em 24% dos pacientes suspeitos e em 3% do grupo-controle (p < 0,05). Concomitância dos anticorpos ocorreu em 10 pacientes com suspeita clínica e em nenhum controle. CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados deste estudo evidenciam a etiologia de caráter infeccioso e reacional das manifestações clínicas encontradas nos pacientes, podendo caracterizar uma síndrome, que possivelmente ocorra na presença de múltiplos microrganismos e está relacionada com carrapatos. Foi encontrada freqüência superior de anticorpos contra Borrelia e Babesia nos pacientes em relação aos controles. Embora pequena, essa diferença foi estatisticamente significante. Este achado não atesta que o quadro clínico dos pacientes seja causado por espécies de Borrelia ou Babesia, mas levantam a possibilidade de participação de algum agente infeccioso que possa estar relacionado a esses microrganismos. Os estudos devem prosseguir para melhorar a delineação desta síndrome em nosso meio, assim como isolar o agente etiológico.The occurence of clinical and laboratory manifestations similar to the Lyme disease and the coinfection with babesiosis was already demonstraded in previous researches with adult patients. However, there are no studies in children. OBJECTIVE: To identify the clinical-epidemiological profile of the Lyme Simile Syndrome in children of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul and to evaluate the prevalence of antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia bovis in the serum of patients that had fulfilled the established criteria. METHODS: One hundred patients (age range: 9 months and 16 years-old) were screened for the presence of those antibodies, using ELISA, comparing to a control group. RESULTS: Antibodies against B. burgdoferi were found in 27% of the patients with a clinical picture. The articular manifestations occurred in 21 patients, cutaneous in 3 and neurological in 3. The prevalency in the control group was 15% (p < 0.05). The antibodies for Babesia bovis were present in 24% of suspect patients and in 3% of the control group (p < 0.05). Concomitance of the two antibodies occurred in 10 patients with clinical suspect and no one of control group. CONCLUSION: The results found in this study suggest the infective and reactive character of the clinical manifestations of the patients, which can characterize a Syndrome, which possibly occurs in the presence of multiple microorganisms that can be associated with tick-borne. It was found a higher frequency of antibodies against borrelia and babesia in patients in relation to the controls. Although small, this difference was statistically significant. This finding does not certify that the clinical features of patients is caused by species of borrelia or babesia, but raised the possibility of involvement of some infectious agent that could be related to these micro-organisms. The studies should continue in order to improve the delineation of this syndrome and to try the isolation of the etiologic agent in our State.Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa (FAEPA

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Síndrome CINCA: um diagnóstico diferencial da artrite idiopática juvenil CINCA syndrome: a differential diagnosis of the juvenile idiopathic arthritis

A síndrome CINCA (crônico-infantil-neurológica-cutâneaarticular) é uma enfermidade inflamatória multissistêmica rara, de início no período neonatal e caracterizada por febre, exantema cutâneo, envolvimento articular e do sistema nervoso central. É também conhecida pela literatura médica norte-americana como NOMID (doença multissistêmica inflamatória de início neonatal). Relatamos o caso de uma criança de 3 anos de idade admitida em nosso serviço com história de febre e exantema cutâneo desde o período neonatal. Apresentou crises convulsivas no sexto mês de vida e artrite simétrica de joelhos desde o nono mês. Na admissão, mostrava-se toxemiada, pálida, com um exantema maculopapular generalizado e artrite de joelhos e tornozelos. Apresentava ainda retardo de crescimento e desenvolvimento. Achados laboratoriais incluíram anemia, leucocitose, trombocitose, níveis elevados de proteína C reativa e meningite asséptica no exame do liquor. Os outros exames foram negativos. Os achados radiográficos dos joelhos, quadris e tornozelos foram anormais. A criança recebeu tratamento com antiinflamatório não hormonal, corticosteróide e metotrexato, com melhora apenas da dor e da febre. A etiologia da síndrome CINCA permanece desconhecida e nenhum tratamento tem se mostrado eficaz. Essa doença deve ser distinguida da forma sistêmica da artrite idiopática juvenil (AIJ), o principal diagnóstico diferencial.<br>CINCA syndrome (chronic-infantile-neurological-cutaneousarticular) is a rare multisystemic inflammatory disease with neonatal onset characterized by fever, skin rash, articular, and central nervous system involvement. This syndrome is known in the North American medical literature as infantile onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID). We describe the case of a 3-yearold child admitted in our service with fever and skin rash since the neonatal period. She presented seizures at 6 months-old and bilateral arthritis of the knees since her 9 months. On admission she looked sick, pale and presented generalized erythematosus maculopapular rash, arthritis of the knees and ankles. She presented growth and mental retardation too. Laboratory Endings included anemia, leukocytosis, thrombocytosis, elevated C-reactive protein levels and the examination Endings from the cerebrospinal fluid showed an aseptic meningitis. Other test results were negative. Radiographs of the knees, hips and ankles revealed abonrmalities. The child received treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids and methotrexate, with partial response to treatment, leading to improvement in pain and fever defervescence. The etiology of CINCA syndrome remains unknown and no single treatment has been found to be effective. This disease should be distinguished from systemic onset juvenile idiophatic arthritis (JIA), the main differential diagnosis

Incidence and prevalence of systemic sclerosis in Campo Grande, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Abstract Introduction: Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease which shows extreme heterogeneity in its clinical presentation and that follows a variable and unpredictable course. Although some discrepancies in the incidence and prevalence rates between geographical regions may reflect methodological differences in the definition and verification of cases, they may also reflect true local differences. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and incidence of systemic sclerosis in the city of Campo Grande, state capital of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), Brazil, during the period from January to December 2014. Methods: All health care services of the city of Campo Grande – MS with attending in the specialty of Rheumatology were invited to participate in the study through a standardized form of clinical and socio-demographic assessment. Physicians of any specialty could report a suspected case of systemic sclerosis, but necessarily the definitive diagnosis should be established by a rheumatologist, in order to warrant the standardization of diagnostic criteria and exclusion of other diseases resembling systemic sclerosis. At the end of the study, 15 rheumatologists reported that they attended patients with systemic sclerosis and sent the completed forms containing epidemiological data of patients. Results: The incidence rate of systemic sclerosis in Campo Grande for the year 2014 was 11.9 per million inhabitants and the prevalence rate was 105.6 per million inhabitants. Systemic sclerosis patients were mostly women, white, with a mean age of 50.58 years, showing the limited form of the disease with a mean duration of the disease of 8.19 years. Regarding laboratory tests, 94.4% were positive for antinuclear antibody, 41.6% for anti-centromere antibody and 19.1% for anti-Scl70; anti-RNA Polymerase III was performed in 37 patients, with 16.2% positive. Conclusions: The city of Campo Grande, the state capital of MS, presented a lower incidence/prevalence of systemic sclerosis in comparison with those numbers found in US studies and close to European studies’ data