Background: Sporotrichosis is a mycotic infectious disease that is generally acquired by traumatic inoculation of contaminated materials especially from plant debris or through bites and scratches from diseased animals, such as domestic cats. It affects the skin, lymphatic system, and other organs in the warm-blooded host. Etiological agents are embedded in the plant-associated order Ophiostomatales. With essential differences between possible outbreak sources and ecological niche, host-environment interactions are classic determinants of risk factors for disease acquisition. Sporotrichosis outbreaks with zoonotic transmission, such as those that are ongoing in southern and southeastern Brazil, have highlighted the threat of cross-species pathogen transmission. Sporothrix brasiliensis has emerged as a human threat owing to the intimate contact pattern between diseased cats and humans in endemic areas.

Thirty rabies virus isolates from cows and vampire bats from different regions of São Paulo State, Southeastern Brazil and three rabies vaccines were studied genetically. The analysis was based on direct sequencing of PCR-amplified products of 600 nucleotides coding for the amino terminus of nucleoprotein gene. The sequences were checked to verify their genealogical and evolutionary relationships and possible implication for health programmes. Statistical data indicated that there were no significant genetic differences between samples isolated from distinct hosts, from different geographical regions and between samples collected in the last two decades. According to the HKA test, the variability observed in the sequences is probably due to genetic drift. Since changes in genetic material may produce modifications in the protein responsible for immunogenicity of virus, which may eventually cause vaccine failure in herds, we suggest that continuous efforts in monitoring genetic diversity in rabies virus field strains, in relation to vaccine strains, must be conducted.

Fifty Brazilian rabies viruses, collected from many different animal species and several regions of the country, were characterized by partial sequencing of the central, variable region of the P gene, a locus useful for sensitive molecular epidemiological studies. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences, which included comparison with other rabies strains recovered from throughout the Americas, identified three main groups of Brazilian viruses, arbitrarily designated BRL-1 to BRL-3. BRL-1 was found in terrestrial carnivores and clusters with other American strains of the cosmopolitan lineage. BRL-2 comprised two distinct isolates, recovered from two species of non-haematophagous bats, that had evolutionary links to insectivorous-bat-derived strains of North America. BRL-3 consisted of isolates from vampire bats and from livestock species probably infected via contact with vampire bats. The terrestrial group was further subdivided into three subtypes: BRL-1a was associated exclusively with dogs and cats, while BRL-1b and BRL-1c were found exclusively in hoary foxes. These observations strongly support the role of the Brazilian hoary fox as a rabies reservoir. Screening of representative Brazilian rabies viruses against a collection of anti-rabies monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) identified a small panel of mAbs that could be used to discriminate between all Brazilian subgroups as defined by genetic classification in this study.

A heminested-PCR (hn-PCR) using primers to the nucleoprotein-coding gene in a nested set was evaluated in the detection of Brazilian strains of rabies virus (RV).Rabies is a widespread zoonosis, which has been of great concern due to its ability to determine a fatal acute encephalomyelitis when the host is bitten by an ill animal (Wilkinson 1988). The causing agent is a virus that belongs to the Lyssavirus genus in the Rhabdoviridae family. Based on phylogenetic analyses of the nucleoproteincoding gene (N gene), the Lyssavirus genus has been divided into seven genotypes. Genotype 1 includes rabies virus (RV) strains (Bourhy et al. 1993). RV genome is composed of a single-stranded, negative-sense, non-segmented RNA that codes for five separate proteins: nucleoprotein, glycoprotein, phosphoprotein, membrane protein and polymerase (Tordo 1991).The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the fluorescent-antibody test (FAT) and mouse inoculation test (MIT) carried out simultaneously should be used for the detection of RV (Meslin et al. 1996). FAT is a rapid and low cost technique, which may show positive results, as it is able to detect viral antigens whether they are viable or not (Meslin et al. 1996). However, FAT's efficacy may be jeopardized when decomposed tissue is used. In such cases, PCR may be used as a surrogate due to its more appropriate performance (Sacramento et al. 1991, Kalmovarin et al. 1993.PCR based on N gene has been widely used for diagnostic purposes since it is one of the most conserved fractions in RV (Smith et al.1992, Kalmovarin et al. 1993, Heaton et al. 1997, Crepin et al. 1998, Heaton et al. 1999, Black et al. 2000.The aim of this study was to design primers based on RV genotype 1 N gene and to evaluate the performance of a hn-PCR for direct RV detection in clinical samples. Primers were based on the sequences of genotype 1 strains, including one Brazilian isolate (Kissi et al. 1995). Virus sequences were aligned by using the Clustal X computer program (Thompson et al. 1997) and the oligonucleotides were designed to recognize regions with high degree of similarity within the N genes. The segments that were selected for primer design are located in the middle of the N gene. Kissi et al. (1995) have demonstrated that such gene fraction shows a striking level of similarity among RV isolates. The physical and chemical properties of the primer were predicted by using the Oligo 4.0 computer program (Rychlik & Rhoads 1989).Primers with a maximum of three mismatches with any aforementioned sequence and no mismatch in the 3' terminal nucleotide were chosen. As the efficiency of PCR is inversely related to the length of the sequence, primers were chosen based on the shortest flanking distance. Primer

Caracterizaram-se as agressões por cães, o perfil das vítimas e dos agressores e as circunstâncias desses acidentes. Calculou-se a amostra aleatória a partir de 20 mil notificações/ano de agressões por cães e realizaram-se 594 entrevistas telefônicas. A maior frequência de agressões ocorreu no sexo masculino, faixa etária de cinco a 14 anos. Lesões leves representaram 80,4%. As profundas (19,1%) ocorreram por cães de porte médio seguidas pelos de grande porte. A maioria dos cães era macho adulto, porte médio. Dos entrevistados, 52,5% desconheciam a condição reprodutiva; 41,0% dos cães não eram esterilizados e 6,4% eram esterilizados. Cães sem raça definida (SRD) provocaram 48,4% dos acidentes, e 57,6% das agressões ocorreram em locais privados. Em 56,2% das agressões, as vítimas eram moradoras do imóvel ou pessoas conhecidas. Com animais não conhecidos a agressão mais frequente ocorreu na rua, 30,8%, e 67,5% dos donos permaneceram com os animais. As agressões foram resultantes da interação homem-cão e devem ser estudadas para se identificarem os possíveis comportamentos que desencadeiam a agressão pelo animal.