The artisanal Coalho cheese is one of the most consumed dairy products in some regions of Brazil, especially in the Northeastern. Because it is minimally ripened, it should be produced using heat-treated milk, however, its manufacture commonly uses raw milk. Reports of contamination of Coalho cheese with pathogenic bacteria are increasing, including Mycobacterium spp. Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are emerging pathogens that cause infections in humans. This study describes the identification of viable NTM in artisanal Coalho cheese in the State of Paraíba, Northeastern, Brazil. On hundred samples of artisanal Coalho cheese, produced without sanitary inspection, were collected at street markets in the regions of Borborema, Agreste and Mata, and cultured in Stonebrink medium. Isolates were analyzed by PCR for hsp65 of Mycobacterium spp. and the DNA amplicons were sequenced. The resulting sequences were submitted to identity search by Blastn (NCBI). Colonies were isolated in 5/100 (5%) samples of Coalho cheese, which were positive in the PCR for hsp65. The resulting DNA consensus sequences showed similarity to hsp65 from Mycobacterium fortuitum (100% identity), Mycobacterium novocastrense (99% identity), Bifidobacterium crudilactis (98% identity), Kocuria rhizophila (98% identity) and Kocuria palustris (91% identity).The consumption of artisanal Coalho cheese from street markets represents a risk for human health, due to the possibility of transmission of non-tuberculous mycobacteria and other actinobacteria potentially pathogenic. This study reinforces the need for the establishment of public policies to prevent the commercialization of Coalho cheese, produced without sanitary inspection.

A comparison between two studies on diel vertical migration of two cyclopoid copepod species, in Lake Monte Alegre, undertaken in 1985/86 and 1999, revealed a change in their migratory behavior. In summer, during a period of marked stratification with low dissolved oxygen near the bottom, the organisms avoided the deepest layers, and migration was nocturnal or undetectable, in both periods. On other occasions, with partial or total circulation in the lake, a weak twilight migration of copepodites and adults in 1985 was replaced by the reverse in 1999. Differences were found among stages, with the weakest or undetectable migration being observed for nauplii. The migratory pattern change for copepodites and adults might be related with a recent predation pressure increase by Chaoborus larvae on copepods, after the virtual disappearance of their main cladoceran prey.