[Acute Chagas' disease: transmission routes, clinical aspects and response to specific therapy in diagnosed cases in an urban center]

The authors report clinical features and therapeutic response of 24 outpatients with acute Chagas' disease, and 3 in the initial chronic phase, referred to the Clinic for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases of the FMUSP "Clínicas" Hospital between 1974 and 1987. The following transmission routes were involved: triatominae in 7 cases, blood transfusion in 9, kidney transplantation and/or blood transfusion in 4, accidental in 1, oral route in 3, probably breast feeding in 1, congenital or breast feeding in 1, and congenital or blood transfusion in 1. Six patients infected by triatominac acquired the disease between 1974 and 1980 and one in 1987. The blood transfusion infected patients acquired the disease in Greater São Paulo, seven of whom after 1983. The acute phase Chagas' disease was oligosymptomatic in 4 patients: three of such patients being immunocompromised by drugs or other diseases. Another two adult immunocompromised patients developed myocarditis and congestive heart failure. Clinical features were severe in 5 from 6 children under two years, irrespective of the transmission route. Evaluation of the acute phase patients treated with benznidazol (4-10 mg/kg/day) showed: therapeutic failure in 4/16 (25.0%); possible cure in 9/16 (53.2%) and inconclusive results in 3/16 (18.8%). The antibody and complement-mediated lysis reaction was in keeping with the xenodiagnosis in 18/22 cases, having shown negative results after treatment earlier than classical serological reactions. One aplastic anaemia patient receiving corticosteroid presented lymphoproliferative disease 6 years after being treated with benznidazol for acute Chagas' disease.

Nonwoven fabric coated with cerium oxide nanoparticles for viral inactivation and transmission Inhibition

Studies on virus inactivation by metal nanoparticles indicate that antiviral activity is influenced by the stabilizer on the particle surface. Additionally, cerium oxide nanoparticles stabilized with boric acid (BA-CeO2) exhibit potent antiviral activity. However, previous studies utilized BA-CeO2 dispersed in liquid form and did not fully account for the practical application of antiviral materials in real-world environments. We investigated the antiviral activity of nonwoven fabric coated with BA-CeO2 (NC-NWF). When a medium containing viruses was placed on NC-NWF, the titers of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), influenza A virus, and feline calicivirus were reduced by > 99% within 2 h. Furthermore, the transmission of MHV was assessed in cages lined with NC-NWF. The cages were divided into two compartments using a mesh and NC-NWF, housing infected and uninfected mice on either side. The results indicated a significantly lower antibody titer against MHV in naïve mice with the NC-NWF partition than in the control partition. Additionally, placing infected mice in NC-NWF cages for 2 h, followed by naïve mice for 24 h, resulted in lower antibody titers against MHV than those in the control fabric. These findings suggest that NC-NWF exhibits antiviral activity and retains efficacy in living environments, such as rearing cages.