Introdução No contexto da pandemia declarada em 2020 pela Organização Mundial da Saúde, o primeiro caso de COVID-19, doença respiratória aguda causada pelo SARS-CoV-2, foi confirmado no Estado do Pará em 18 de março de 2020. Ainda não há informações consistentes da prevalência dessa infecção em quilombos localizados no Pará, o que mascara a real situação epidemiológica dessas comunidades. Objetivo Descrever a prevalência do SARS-CoV-2 em comunidades quilombolas do município de Cametá, Pará. Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo de corte transversal, em abril de 2021, com amostragem de 140 indivíduos pertencentes a cinco comunidades: Arimandeua (n = 33), Aripijó (n = 26), Bacuri (n = 10), Cabanagem (n = 13) e São Benedito (n = 58). Dados demográficos e sociais foram obtidos por meio de um questionário epidemiológico. Amostras de sangue total (5 mL) foram coletadas por um sistema de colheita a vácuo em tubos contendo EDTA e foram separadas em plasma para a realização de ensaios de imunoabsorção enzimática - ELISA (EUROIMMUN, US) para a detecção de anticorpos IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2. Resultados Do número total de participantes, 67,1% eram do sexo feminino e 32,9% eram do sexo masculino, com média de idade de 38 anos e 52,1% testaram reagentes para IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2. Dentre os indivíduos soropositivos para o vírus, houve predomínio da faixa etária de 30 a 59 anos (35,6%), estado civil solteiro (52,1%) e renda familiar inferior a um salário mínimo (45,2%). Conclusão Foi observada uma elevada prevalência do SARS-CoV-2 nas comunidades quilombolas localizadas no munícipio de Cametá, o que ressalta a importância da vigilância soroepidemiológica em populações com elevado grau de vulnerabilidade e convivência estreita.

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Apoptosis of macrophages infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis via Fas-FasL is an important immune mechanism against infection. This study investigated the association of tuberculosis (TB) with the presence of the polymorphisms FAS -670A/G and FASL -124A/G, the levels of sFas and sFasL, and the gene expression of FASL and cytokines. Samples of 200 individuals diagnosed with TB and 200 healthy controls were evaluated. Real-time PCR (genotyping and gene expression) and ELISA (dosages of sFas, sFasL, IFN-γ, and IL-10) tests were performed. There was no association of FAS -670A/G and FASL -124A/G polymorphisms with TB. The TB group exhibited high plasma levels of sFas and reduced plasma levels of sFasL (p < 0.05). The correlation analysis between these markers revealed a positive correlation between the levels of sFas and sFasL, sFasL and FASL expression, and between sFas and FASL expression (p < 0.05). In the TB group, there was a positive correlation between FASL expression and IFN-γ levels and higher levels of IL-10 compared to IFN-γ (p < 0.05). High levels of sFas and reduced levels of sFasL and FASL expression may contribute to the inhibition of apoptosis in infected cells and represent a possible bacterial resistance resource to maintain the infection.

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Several factors are associated with the development of different clinical forms of tuberculosis (TB). The present study evaluated epidemiological variables and cytokine levels in samples from 89 patients with TB (75 with pulmonary TB and 14 with extrapulmonary TB) and 45 controls. Cytokines were measured by flow cytometry (Human Th1/Th2/Th17 Cytometric Bead Array kit). The TB group had a higher frequency of individuals who were 39 years of age or older, married, with primary education or illiterate and had a lower family income (p < 0.05). All individuals with extrapulmonary TB reported that they were not working, and the main reasons were related to disease symptoms or treatment. The levels of IFN-γ (OR = 4.06) and IL-4 (OR = 2.62) were more likely to be elevated in the TB group (p = 0.05), and IFN-γ levels were lower in patients with extrapulmonary TB compared to those with pulmonary TB (OR = 0.11; p = 0.0050). The ROC curve was applied to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of IFN-γ levels between the different clinical forms of tuberculosis, resulting in high AUC (0.8661; p < 0.0001), sensitivity (93.85%) and specificity median (65.90%), suggesting that IFN-γ levels are useful to differentiate pulmonary TB from extrapulmonary TB. The dysregulation of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine levels represent a risk for the development of TB and contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease, especially variation in IFN-γ levels, which may determine protection or risk for extrapulmonary TB.