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The analysis of a historical series of 16 years (2004 to 2019) of the incidence of dengue fever in 20 countries of Central and South America has concluded that the dynamic of dengue fever occurrence in the region was changed after zika virus epidemics, possibly due to crossed immunity between the two virus, that belongs to the same family. In the study, researchers analyzed data of notified cases suspected of dengue fever, reported to the Pan-Americal Health Organization (PAHO) by the following countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador,…
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Research by Fiocruz Pernambuco, in collaboration with the Colorado State University (CSU), USA, has found scientific evidence of the importance of sexual transmission of the virus in the zika epidemic in Pernambuco. This is the first Brazilian study to reach this conclusion, and the second worldwide to show that sexual transmission of the zika virus played a much more significant role in the epidemic than what was initially thought. The first study took place in Porto Rico, in 2019.
Other previous studies had already proven the existence of this form of transmission in places where the vector…
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Researchers of Fiocruz and Visuri, reference institutions in research and development of technology for health, have developed a portable device, the OmniLAMP, for the molecular diagnosis of COVID-19 through the detection of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material. Using the RT-LAMP technique, which transforms RNA into DNA and amplifies it isothermically, the equipment makes it possible to run tests with safety levels similar to those of the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) gold standard technique, but in a shorter time and at a lower cost.
The technology enables the decentralization of testing, which…
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A study by the World Mosquito Program (WMP), from the University of Monash, in Australia, in a partnership with the Tahija Foundation and the University of Gadjah Mada, in Indonesia, points to a reduction of 77% in the incidence of cases of dengue fever, virologically confirmed, in the areas where Aedes aegypti with Wolbachia were released, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, when compared with areas that did not receive the method. This is the first gold standard test to show the capacity of reducing cases of dengue fever using Wolbachia method in the Aedes aegypti. In Brazil, the initiative is led by…
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Covid-19 has shown Brazil’s fragility in promoting an industrial policy in the health area: facing the pandemic involves prevention, services preparation, drugs, equipment, diagnostic tests, and the future vaccine. When one of these parts fails the entire strategy to contain the disease’s expansion will be jeopardized. This is Carlos Gadelha’s evaluation, a researcher and coordinator of Prospection Actions at Fiocruz. “From the beginning we have been saying that if these dimensions are not articulated, then SUS [the Brazilian Public Health System] would be vulnerable and fragile, with no…
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Many of us have greatly been affected by Covid-19 - from loss of jobs, closure of schools, travel bans, movement restriction and much more. However, some groups of people have been more affected other than others, and the more vulnerable in the community, societies and groups have borne the greatest brunt. The disease has affected men, women and people of other genders differently.
Various questions and concerns were raised during a webinar organised by The Global Health Network, “Understanding the gendered dimensions of COVID-19: Experiences from Brazil, Canada, and the United…
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In partnership with an international research group, Fiocruz has obtained funding to conduct real-time analyses of gender dynamics during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research will be made possible through a $1.6 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Simon Fraiser University (Canada), which is passing on some of the resources to other institutions to include more countries in this analysis. Ahead of the study, researcher Julia Smith, from Simon Fraiser University, explains that the Gender and Covid-19 project is unique in focusing on gender-related effects on responses to…
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Even in the midst of a pandemic that has affected the everyday life of virtually everyone, Brazilians are still living with the consequences of the last national public health emergency: the zika virus, which has led to the birth of 3,534 babies with congenital zika syndrome (CZS) since 2015. A new strain of the zika virus was recently discovered in Brazil by researchers of the Center for the Integration of Data and Knowledge for Health (Cidacs) of Fiocruz Bahia, and the possibility of the re-emergence of an epidemic of zika has become higher. The finding was published in early June in the…
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In line with the history and spirit of Dr Oswaldo Cruz, the foundation that carries his name and celebrates its 120th anniversary continues to provide Brazil and the world with innovative and high-quality health services thus fulfilling the bold vision of its creator.
In the pantheon of Brazilian national heroes in the field of science, Dr Oswaldo Cruz stands out as the most prominent figure. He was an ambitious man and knew exactly what he wanted. Born to a middle-class family in the inland of São Paulo in 1872, he made it to the prestigious medical college of the Federal University of Rio…
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In 2016, for the first time in Latin America, Brazil was the epicenter of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The unusual increase in babies born with microcephaly and other neurological disorders initially attracted the attention of bedside doctors in the Northeast; months later, the world looked at the country and its babies with concern.
This was clearly a public health emergency, but it demanded a coordinated and interdisciplinary response. Firstly, due to the environmental character of the etiological agent, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which for decades has transmitted…
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Fiocruz celebrates its 120th anniversary this Monday, May 25. The date comes right when Brazil and the world are facing the biggest public health, economical, social, humanitarian and political challenge of the 21st century: the Covid-19 pandemic. The institution was founded with the name Instituto Soroterápico Federal [Federal Soroterapic Institute], with the purpose of fighting epidemics such as the bubonic plague, yellow fever, and small pox, which threatened Rio de Janeiro, then capital of the Republic. More than a century later, now in the midst of the new coronavirus pandemic, the…
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A research led by the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) points out that the circulation of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) started up to four weeks before the first cases were registered in countries in Europe and the Americas. The study, which uses a statistical methodology of inference from death records, indicates that, while countries were monitoring travelers and confirming the first imported Covid-19 cases, community transmission of the disease was already underway.
According to the paper, published in the journal “Memories of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute”, the novel…
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On March 24, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation launched an express approval process at the Brazilian Registry of Clinical Essays (ReBEC) for clinical research on the Covid-19. The so-called fast track may reduce the normal approval period, which normally takes up to a couple of weeks, to less than 48 hours. Scientists all over the world will be able to have quick access to the modeling of ongoing studies, thus avoiding re-working and promoting cooperation. The goal is to shorten the time between the beginning of the research, testing, and the delivery of drugs, vaccines and other…
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In an interview to the Fiocruz News Agency (AFN), Nísia Trindade Lima comments on the context of the Covid-19 pandemics and the challenges of its arrival in Brazil. The Fiocruz president also lists some of the actions taken by the institution as a response to this public health crisis, from the production of tests to health care to those infected. All departments and units of the Foundation are mobilized to face the epidemics. “Fiocruz turns 120 year next May, and our anniversary will be marked by our response to this pandemics, just like the beginning of the institution was a public…
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Articles on the new coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2) can be published in just 24 hours in the journal Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, one of the oldest and most respected scientific journals in Latin America.
Considering the importance of rapid data sharing during the pandemic, the journal provided an express way for the dissemination of research. Already used for work on Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever and Ebola, the Fast Track system allows publication after an editor's evaluation, while the peer review process is underway.
"The Fast Track system was launched during the Zika epidemic in Brazil…
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Ten out of ten infectologists in the planet believe that one of the basic actions to avoid contamination by the Covid-19, more commonly known as coronavirus, is to stay away from large groups of people. This has led to the cancellation of numerous events such as sports events, concerts, conventions, and lessons in schools and universities. Even the healthy habit of going to the cinema has turned into a risky action. Now, what happens when you spend 365 days a year living in the middle of a crowd? This is the reality of the slums of Rio and other Brazilian cities: Rocinha, Maré, Casa Amarela…
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Health inequalities and challenges that science is facing nowadays were the common thread for the inaugural lecture for class 2020 at the Fiocruz National School of Public Health, held on March 4. Dr. Deisy Ventura, professor at the Faculty of Public Health of the University of São Paulo, was one of the main speakers in the event, which also had presentations from demographer Paulo Jannuzzi, from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and Humberto Adami, president of the National Commission for the Truth of Black Slavery of the Federal Council of the Brazilian Bar…
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It is not easy to surprise a scientist as experienced as Carlos Medicis Morel, general coordinator of the Center for Technological Development in Health (CDTS) of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), former president of the institution and former director of TDR, Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO). But this is exactly what happened in February 2017, when the researcher visited China for the second time. The surprise appeared in a city that he had never heard of before, Shenzhen. “There, I visited the hospital where the…
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With support of Fiocruz, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics has issued on January 29th a Call for Action to research funders, governments, and others involved in health research systems for a more ethical and collaborative approach to conducting research during emergencies such as infectious disease outbreaks. The latest novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, illustrates how suddenly new threats can emerge, and the important role that research has to play in understanding the nature of the threat, and how to respond effectively.
The pressures and distressing circumstances of such…
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Researchers of the World Mosquito Program (WMP) presented on 11/21 new evidence of the reduction of arbovirus-caused diseases in areas where Aedes aegypti with Wolbachia were released, in Brazil, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia. Wolbachia is an intracellular bacterium that, once present inside mosquitoes, prevents dengue, zika and chikungunya viruses from developing within these insects, therefore reducing the transmission of the diseases. Preliminary WMP data, a global initiative led by Fiocruz in Brazil, point to a reduction of about 75% of the cases of chikungunya in Niterói (in the state…
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Fiocruz received a Dutch delegation that was in Brazil for prospection meetings involving big data in the areas of health and life sciences, on the 11/29. In addition to representatives of the Dutch government, the group also included professionals from different universities in Holland.
The delegation was able to get to know Fiocruz’s actions regarding big data, such as the National Laboratory of Scientific Computing (LNCC) and the Center of Integration of Data and Knowledge for Health (Cidacs), among other initiatives. The Consul for Science, Technology and Innovation, Petra Smits,…
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Fiocruz will have its own virtual space on the international platform The Global Health Network from December 3rd. The virtual environment (you can acess here) will be a knowledge sharing space, which aims to strengthen networks and increase Fiocruz's international presence, contributing to improve regional and global public health research capacities. The launch will take place at Fiocruz campus, in Rio de Janeiro, during the International Seminar of the Fiocruz Internationalization Program (Print - Fiocruz / Capes).
Fiocruz's virtual space is the result of partnership signed on July…
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Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the University of the Republic of Uruguay (UdelaR) and Pasteur Institute of Montevideo signed a memorandum of understanding for future partnerships between the institutions. The meeting was held at UdelaR’s headquarters in Montevideo, on October 28.
The meeting was attended by the director of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz), José Paulo Gagliardi Leite; Fiocruz’s Vice-Presidents Rodrigo Correa de Oliveira (Biological Research and Collections) and Marco Krieger (Production and Innovation in Health), representing Fiocruz’s President, Nísia Trindade…
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Fiocruz and one of the main French research institutions, the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS, in the French acronym), have made official the continuity of a historical partnership, with a celebratory three-day symposium and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MdU). From 16 to 18 October, the joint event A cooperative agenda for health promoted exchanges between social and human science researchers applied to the health sector, and marked the celebration of the anniversaries of the two institution - together, they carry two centuries of history on their backs. In 2019…
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The history of global health and of the World Health Organization (WHO) is often told by the few voices that are in positions of command. However, the multilateral historical perspective and research in human sciences can contribute with new discoveries that challenge the idea that global health decisions are taken by a handful of actors from dominant countries. This is the proposal of the researcher of the University of York and head of WHO Collaborating Center on Global Health History, Sanjoy Bhattacharya, who was at Fiocruz for the 135th Global Health History Seminar, with the theme…
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Fiocruz formalized on July 17 a partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (Unfpa). The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Fiocruz’s President Nísia Trindade Lima and Unfpa’s Executive Director Natalia Kanem took place at the Unfpa headquarters in New York at the High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development.
"The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding with an institution with such an important mandate as Unfpa represents a milestone for Fiocruz," said Nísia, in extolling the agreement which envisages the development of joint programs that aim at…
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Arboviruses are transmitted through insect bites and cause several diseases. Among the most well-known in Brazil are dengue fever, zika and chikungunya. Other arboviruses, such as mayaro and o’nyong-nyong, less known but also with potential to cause epidemics, have drawn the attention of the scientific community, with the appearance of the first cases of these diseases in areas where there was previously no trace of them.
A work group consisting of researchers from different countries, called Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GloPID-R), was created to…
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The Pasteur Institute, a French foundation for research on infectious disease prevention and treatment, inaugurated the Scientific Pasteur-USP Platform at the University of São Paulo (USP), in São Paulo on July 4. The platform is the result of a scientific partnership between the Pasteur Institute, USP and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) signed in June 2015. This platform will develop research to study emerging pathogens, of which infections can cause damage to the central nervous system, such as the Zika, Dengue, Yellow Fever and Influenza viruses, as well as protozoa such as the…
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Research from Fiocruz reveals that children exposed to the Zika virus may have developmental delays and neurosensory changes in the second year of life. The study evaluated 216 children for two years and also found that neurological development was lower than normal in children exposed to the virus in the first weeks of pregnancy, while children exposed in the last weeks had fewer complications.
There were eight cases of microcephaly among the children followed by the researchers. Two of these reversed to proper growth of the head circumference. One of the babies, who presented problems the…
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