Mário de Maria

Pediculose capitis: prevalência em escolares da Rede Municipal Pública de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil

During 1985, 50,356 children and adolecents from 105 public schools of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State were questioned about or examined for head lice (Pediculus capitis). The mean prevalence of pediculosis, obtainde from the questionnaires and sometimes confirmed by head inspections, was 7.7% or else 10.2% when adjusted to 38,311 respondents. Current and past infestations combined - within a period of three months before survey - revealed a total prevalence of 57.4%. Significant differences were observed among socioeconomic levels, and grades of school age. The more prevalent categories among the factors studied were: sex - femal: 9.2% (P<0.001); ethnic group - white: 10.0% (P<0.001); hair length - long: 9.5% (P<0.05); year age-group - 1-5 years: 19.2% (P<0.001), with a peak in the 5th year (21.3%).

Effectiveness of sampling methods and further sampling for accessing spider diversity: a case study in a Brazilian Atlantic rainforest fragment

The current biodiversity crisis makes the quantification of the diversity and the description of organism distribution particularly pressing. Biological inventories are among the most effective ways to improve the knowledge about local biota, but they can be very time and money‐consuming. The determination of adequate sampling effort and the selection of cost‐effective collecting methods are critical issues. In this article, a spider diversity inventory in an Atlantic semi‐deciduous forest fragment in Brazil was used to compare the efficiency of three collecting methods in two different seasons in order to propose an optimised sampling protocol. The worthiness of increasing sampling effort in the target area and similar tropical ecosystems was estimated and evaluated in terms of its cost‐effectiveness. For a better sampling of the spider community, it is suggested that a proportion of 55, 29 and 16% of total sampling hours should be dedicated to nocturnal hand collecting (NHC), pitfall traps and beating trays, respectively, in the rainy season. If only one method can be applied, the most efficient in terms of species per sampling is the NHC. A completeness of 70% of the estimated spider species richness (as predicted by the Chao1 estimator) was observed in the complete inventory and increasing sampling effort in the studied area may be highly ineffective when the costs involved are considered. Other studies in similar tropical rainforest areas also presented completeness around 70%, which might be a threshold from which the sampling effort necessary to raise the observed species richness substantially starts to be ineffective.

Prevalence of nits and lice in sampls of cut hair from floors of barbershop and beauty parlors in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state, Brazil

A louse survey based on samples of cut hair collected from floors of barbershops and beauty parlors was conducted in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, from October 1984 to April 1985, as an alternative way to determine the prevalence of pediculosis capitis in the population. Of 475 samples examined for nits, nymphs, or adults of Pediculus capitis, 140 were infested (29.5%). A total of 58 lice and 3,553 nits were found in 33,632.9 g of hair collected, giving a ratio of 0.10 nit/g. Almost 29% of the nits were viable and capable of being transmitted after hatching. There was significant difference among the infestation rates by socioeconomic levels, and samples from barbershops with male customers were the most infested. Based upon the number of haircuts in each sample, we estimated that 5 or 6% of the population might be infested by this species.

Primeiro registro de escorpionismo causado por Tityus adrianoi Lourenço (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

Three cases of scorpionism caused by Tityus adrianoi Lourenço occurring in the cities of Belo Horizonte and Curvelo, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, are presented. The patients were treated on the same day as the accident and in all cases, only local pain was reported, which varied from low to intense, without posterior complications. All three cases were classified as mild.

Infestaçäo por Pediculus humanus (Anoplura: Pediculidae) no Município de Säo Paulo, SP, Brasil

Adults, nymphs and nits of the Pediculus humanus were found in a frame-house infesting the clothes and bedding of three inhabitants in a shanty town in S. Paulo county, S. Paulo State. A total of 198 nits were found glued in 15.0 cm2 of fibres of the infested clothing, giving a ratio of 13.2 nits/cm2. Having in view that the precarious living conditions, promiscuity, absence of basic sanitation and negligence of the sanitary authorities in various Brazilian cities, this situation should not be underestimated. This find should be more frequent than an isolated observation.

O significado do sítio de aderência das lêndeas de Pediculus capitis em amostras de cabelos recolhidos do chäo de barbearias

Foram realizadas observacoes sobre o sitio de aderencia de 3178 lendeas em cabelos cortados e colhidos de 475 barbearias de Belo Horizonte - se na base, meio ou extremidade - e sobre o estado de viabilidade das mesmas (lendeas formadas ou desenvolvidas). A direcao do operculo foi tomada como referencia para determinacao desta posicao. Em outros 66 fios de cabelo foram encontradas 140 lendeas em infestacoes duplas ou multiplas. Estes dados nos permitiram estimar, de modo grosseiro, o periodo da infestacao ao tempo do corte de cabelo (7-10 dias, em media), o tempo decorrido entre reinfestacoes consecutivas (21-25 dias, no minimo), bem como em que proporcao os cortes foram efetuados ou como medida de controle para tentar conter a infestacao (28,8%), ou apos a infestacao haver sido debelada (71,2%).

First record of Cyrtophora citricola (Forskål) in Brazil (Araneae, Araneidae)

Cyrtophora Simon, 1864 comprises 36 species that occur in the Old World and Australia. Cyrtophora citricola (Forskal, 1775) is widespread and has been introduced in the Neotropical region, in Colombia and Hispaniola. Here is presented the first record of this species in Brazil, in the municipalities of Belo Horizonte and Prudente de Morais, State of Minas Gerais. The specimens studied show variations in coloration and in the abdomens format, but the genital structure is the same as observed in specimens of C. citricola.