Objectives The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences in knowledge about TB among prison workers and workers of the basic health services (administrative and health professionals). Method It was designed a cross-sectional study with 115 guards and health professionals of a prison, 121 administrative workers of the health services and 125 health professionals of the health services. Knowledge about diagnosis symptoms, prevention and treatment was sought using a questionnaire based on KAP (knowledge, attitude and practice) survey. Differences among the proportion of affirmative answers were estimated using c 2 test with significance level of 0.05. Results Although the most important symptom for all three groups was cough for more than 2 weeks, administrative and health professionals mentioned it in a higher proportion (84 and 85%) than prison workers (66%) (p<0.05). Weight lost (60%) and fever of unknown cause (32%) did not show statistical difference (p¼0.07 and p¼0.59). Airborne transmission was correctly informed by 88.4% to 94.4% with no statistical differences (p¼0.19) and sharing plates (41%) and shaking hands (5%) were incorrectly mentioned as forms of transmission, also without differences among groups. Supervised treatment (74%e80%) also did not have statistical difference. Conclusions Although health professionals showed a higher knowledge, 15% gave incorrect answers, thus continued education is needed to improve TB diagnosis and prevention. Introduction The physiopathology of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), severe form of Dengue Fever, is poorly understood. We are unable to identify patients likely to progress to DHF for closer monitoring and early intervention during epidemics, so most cases are sent home. This study explored whether patients with selected co-morbidities are at higher risk of developing DHF. Methods A matched case-control study conducted in a dengue seropositive population in two Brazilian cities. For each case of DHF, 7 sero-positive controls were selected. Cases and controls were interviewed and information collected on demographic and socioeconomic status, reported co-morbidities (diabetes, hypertension, allergy) and use of medication. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate the strength of the association between the comorbidities and occurrence of DHF. Results 170 cases of DHF and 1175 controls were included. Significant associations were found between DHF and white ethnicity (OR¼4.7; 2.1e10.2), high income (OR¼6.8; 4.0e11.4), high education (OR¼4.7; 2.35e9.27), reported diabetes (OR¼2.7; 1.1e6.7) and reported allergy treated with steroids (OR¼2.9.0; 1.0e8.5). Black individuals who reported being treated for hypertension had 13 times higher risk of DHF then black individuals reporting no hypertension. Conclusion This is the first study to find an association between DHF and diabetes, allergy and hypertension. Given the high case fatality rate of DHF (1%e5%), we believe that the evidence produced in this study, suggests that screening criteria might be used ...

No abstract