Gisele Viana Pires

Cross‐cultural adaptation of the Brazilian–Portuguese version of the chronic urticaria quality‐of‐life questionnaire – CU‐Q2oL

To cite this article: Dias GAC, Pires GV, Valle SOR, França AT, Papi JA, Dortas SD Jr, Levy SAP, Baiardini I, Canonica GW. Cross‐cultural adaptation of the Brazilian‐Portuguese version of the chronic urticaria quality‐of‐life questionnaire ‐ CU‐Q2oL. Allergy 2011; 66: 1487–1493

Frequency of viral etiology in symptomatic adult upper respiratory tract infections

Abstract Aims To determine the frequency of viral pathogens causing upper respiratory tract infections in non-hospitalized, symptomatic adults in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Methods Respiratory samples (nasal/throat swabs) were collected between August 2010 and November 2012 and real time PCR was used to detect different viral pathogens. Results Viruses were detected in 32.1% (43/134) of samples from 101 patients. Specifically, 9% (12/134) were positive for HBoV, 8.2% (11/134) were positive for HAdV, 5.2% (7/134) were positive for HRV, and 1.5% (2/134) were positive for FLUBV or HMPV, as single infections. HRSV-A, HPIV-3, and HCoV-HKU1 were detected in one (0.75%) sample each. Co-infections were detected in 4.8% (6/134) of the samples. Peaks of viral infections were observed in March, April, May, August, and October. However, positive samples were detected all year round. Only 23.3% (10/43) of the positive samples were collected from patients with febrile illness. Conclusion Results presented in this report suggest that respiratory viral infections are largely under diagnosed in immunocompetent adults. Although the majority of young adult infections are not life-threatening they may impose a significant burden, especially in developing countries since these individuals represent a large fraction of the working force.

Prevalence of autoantibodies in a group of hereditary angioedema patients

Hereditary Angioedema is a dominantly inherited disease. Routine screening of autoantibodies (AAB) is not recommended for individuals with Hereditary Angioedema; however, prevalence of these antibodies in Hereditary Angioedema patients is not well documented. We aim to determine the prevalence of AAB so that individuals at risk of developing autoimmune diseases can be identified. Fifteen patients with Hereditary Angioedema attended at Clementino Fraga Filho University Hospital accepted to participate in this study. Prevalence of AAB was 40%. Our data indicate high prevalence of AAB in patients with Hereditary Angioedema. Large-scale studies should be considered to determine the significance of these AAB in the follow-up care of patients with Hereditary Angioedema.