Paulo Sérgio Bernarde

Universidade Federal do Acre, Campus Floresta · Centro Multidisciplinar

The aim of the present study was to report on the occurrence of parasitism by Amblyomma rotundatum ticks on two species of Teiidae lizards and test the presence of rickettsiae in the collected ticks, in the western Brazilian Amazon region. Ticks were collected in July 2019, from a fragment of terra firme forest in the municipality of Senador Guioma...

Os anuros possuem uma ampla variedade de mecanismos antipredadores relacionados à coloração como aposematismo, mimetismo, camuflagem, coloração disruptiva e polifenismo. Neste estudo, relatamos o primeiro registro de polifenismo dinâmico para o cambo (P. bicolor) e para o gênero Phyllomedusa. Nosso registro sugere que o polifenismo apresentado por...

O presente estudo foi realizado em três comunidades florestais localizadas no estado do Acre, com o objetivo de avaliar a incidência de acidentes com animais peçonhentos entre os moradores durante as atividades de extrativismo dos recursos naturais. A pesquisa teve caráter descritivo e os dados foram levantados por meio de entrevistas individuais c...

Os acidentes ofídicos são considerados um agravo a saúde pública principalmente nos países tropicais e subtropicais em populações com maior vulnerabilidade socioeconômica. Os trabalhadores rurais que vivem em comunidades, estão mais susceptíveis a esses acidentes, uma vez que estes estão associados às atividades ocupacionais que são realizadas nos...

Background Triatomines infest atypical public spaces in the Western Amazon. Methods Frequent visitors to these spaces captured the insects in the state of Acre, Brazil (Rio Branco and Cruzeiro do Sul). Results Six insects were found in a penitentiary, a church, a school, a university, a hospital, and a health center. Five of the insects were adul...

The Alto Juruá region has a rich diversity of venomous snakes, and snakebites represent an important cause of morbidity. The present study was carried out in five communities in the Alto Juruá region, and aimed to evaluate the history of snakebites in terms of which snakes were involved and what was the victims' conduct in relation to first aid and...

Snakebite envenoming is currently considered a neglected tropical disease, which affects over 5 million people worldwide, and causes almost 150 000 deaths every year, as well as severe injuries, amputations and other sequelae. Snakebite envenoming in children, although proportionally less frequent, is generally more severe, and represents an import...

Anuran amphibians have intensively been studied to understand Amazonian biodiversity. Improved methods and sampling has revealed that many widespread nominal species in fact are complexes of species with smaller allopatric ranges. Pan-Amazonian anuran species are rather an exception. In a case study using the three-striped poison frog (Anura: Dendr...

This study presents an account on the snake assemblage and its natural history in the state of Rondônia. Data collection was carried out between January and December 2018. The surveys were done through time constrained searches, pitfall traps, and occasional encounters. A total of 155 snakes corresponding to 60 species were recorded, of which 12 sp...

The Serra do Divisor National Park is one of the richest regions in biodiversity and, despite its importance, it is still an understudied area. Here we report new records of mammals in this locality and insights into the natural history of the olingo Bassaricyon alleni Thomas, 1880, bushy-tailed opossum Glironia venusta Thomas, 1912, and greater gr...

Phyllomedusa bicolor (Phyllomedusidae), popularly known as the kambô in Brazil, is a tree frog that is widely distributed in South American countries and is known for producing a skin secretion that is rich in bioactive peptides, which are often used in indigenous rituals. The biological effects of the skin secretion were observed in the first stud...

Resumo Objetivo: Analisar a tendência temporal dos acidentes causados por animais peçonhentos no Brasil, de 2007 a 2019. Métodos: Estudo transversal, realizado com dados do Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (Sinan). Para a análise temporal, utilizou-se a regressão linear de Prais-Winsten. Foram calculadas as incidências por sexo e fai...

Objetivo: Analisar a tendência temporal dos acidentes causados por animais peçonhentos no Brasil, de 2007 a 2019. Métodos: Estudo transversal, realizado com dados do Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação – Sinan. Para a análise temporal, utilizou-se a regressão linear de Prais-Wistein. Foram calculadas as incidências por sexo e faixa etár...

In the Brazilian Amazon, envenomations by lancehead pit vipers prevail across the region, while bushmaster (Lachesis muta) envenomations are rarely confirmed. Here, we described a moderate snakebite, diagnosed as a lancehead pit viper envenomation upon admission and treated with four vials of Bothrops antivenom. Blood remained unclottable for 4 day...

In many snakes, males engage in agonistic interactions (male–male combat) apparently to establish dominant–subordinate relationships to gain priority access to reproductive females. In the Neotropical genus Bothrops Wagler, 1824 (∼45 species), male–male combat has been recorded only in three species of the monophyletic Bothrops atrox group. However...

The two-striped forest-pitviper (Bothrops bilineatus) is an arboreal snake that is currently represented by two subspecies (B. b. bilineatus and B. b. smaragdinus) that comprise a species complex, and its distribution is in the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest. The rarity of encounters with this snake is reflected in the low occurrence of cases of sn...

In the Brazilian Amazon, long distances, low healthcare coverage, common use of ineffective or deleterious self-care practices, and resistance to seeking medical assistance have an impact on access to antivenom treatment. This study aimed to estimate snakebite under-reporting, and analyze barriers that prevent victims from obtaining healthcare in c...

RESUMO Apresentamos dados sobre a história natural de uma assembleia de serpentes no Alto Rio Juruá (Estado do Acre, Brasil). Amostramos as serpentes usando uma busca visual limitada pelo tempo, armadilhas de interceptação e queda e observação ocasional. Registramos 179 espécimes de 42 espécies. À noite, a maioria das serpentes foi observada na veg...

Crotalus durissus ruruima is a rattlesnake subspecies mainly found in Roraima, the northernmost state of Brazil. Envenomings caused by this subspecies lead to severe clinical manifestations (e.g. respiratory muscle paralysis, rhabdomyolysis, and acute renal failure) that can lead to the victim's death. In this review, we comprehensively describe C....

Introduction: The efficacy of 20-minute whole blood clotting (WBCT20) and the Lee-White clotting time (LWCT) tests in diagnosing coagulation alterations from snakebites were compared. Methods: We evaluated 89 snakebite cases treated at the Hospital Regional do Juruá em Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil. Results: WBCT20 results were normal in 33.7% and...

Introduction: Chagas disease (CD) is a disease caused by the protozoan flagellates of the Kinetoplastid order Trypanosoma cruzi. Approximately 8,000,000 people are infected worldwide, mainly in Latin America, causing disabilities and more than 10,000 deaths per year. Objective: This study aimed to describe the epidemiological panorama of CD in the...

We present information on the habitat use and activity of the pitviper Bothrops bilineatus smaragdinus in floodplain forests of the western Brazilian Amazon. During a one-year period (April 2018–March 2019) we performed 816 h of time-limited visual searches and recorded 35 individuals, with a further two recorded through occasional encounters, for...

INTRODUCTION: Triatomines are insect vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease. METHODS: Triatomines were collected from households and by dissecting palm trees in the peri-urban areas of Cruzeiro do Sul (Acre); they were identified using a specific key and via genital analyses. Trypanosomatid infection was determined t...

INTRODUCTION: Triatomines are hematophagous insects that are important to public health since they are the vectors of American Trypanosomiasis. The objective of this study was to describe the occurrence of triatomines in homes in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil. METHODS The specimens were collected by an active search inside homes and also by a pass...

The etiological agent of American trypanosomiasis is the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, typically transmitted by triatomines. The aim of this study was to investigate the triatomine fauna and trypanosomiasis infections in Acre State, Western Brazilian Amazon. Insect collection was performed by dissecting palm trees and installing traps. We found that...

The objective of this case series was to describe 2 patients presenting with subarachnoid hemorrhage with hydrocephalus and hemoventricle after a snakebite caused by presumed Bothrops ssp. Both cases occurred in the municipality of Guajará (Amazonas state), Western Brazilian Amazon. Both cases featured delay in administration of serum therapy, whic...

The present study aims to describe the occurrence of triatomines and their infection rate by Trypanosoma cruzi, in an area of Chagas disease outbreak in Rodrigues Alves municipality, Acre state, Brazil. Collections were performed by passive search (capture of specimens by local people) and dissection of palm trees (Attalea butyracea and Mauritia fl...

INTRODUCTION Snakebites are considered a neglected tropical disease in many countries in Latin America, including Brazil. As few studies have assessed snakebites in the Amazon region and especially in the state of Acre, epidemiological studies are of great importance. The present study aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics of snakeb...

Envenomation by coral snakes represents a little known burden in Brazilian Amazonia. So far, details on clinical and epidemiological aspects remain obscure in the region. We gathered data from medical charts and from the scientific collection of snakes from Fundação de Medicina Tropical Doutor Heitor Vieira Dourado, finding 26 cases of envenomation...

Bothrops atrox snakes are mostly endemic of the Amazon rainforest and is certainly the South American pit viper responsible for most of the snakebites in the region. The composition of B. atrox venom is significantly known and has been used to trace the relevance of the venom phenotype for snake biology and for the impacts in the clinics of human p...

INTRODUCTION: Snakebites are a public health problem and are considered clinical emergencies, what makes studies in high-incidence regions very importantOBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and epidemiological aspects of patients suffering from snakebite accidents in a region of the Western Amazon, BrazilMETHODS: It is a cross-sectional, retrospecti...

INTRODUCTION: Triatomines are hematophagous insects of epidemiological importance because they are vectors of Chagas disease. We present here the first report of Rhodnius montenegrensis in Amazonas, Brazil. METHODS: Triatomines were collected from Attalea butyracea palm trees in the municipality of Guajará. RESULTS: Two adult female R. montenegre...

Literature data suggests that Thamnodynastes strigatus (Serpentes, Dipsadidae) is a snake that actively forages for anurans near waterbodies, using several microhabitats for this activity (e.g., shrubs, soil, and water). However, herein we present dissonant data previously known to the species, both concerning type of prey and foraging strategy. A...

Introduction: We examined the ethnobiological perception of the population of the Alto Juruá region about different snake species, in terms of their dangerousness and manifestations of envenomation. Methods: We interviewed 100 villagers who were active in the forests. Results: Lachesis muta was considered the most venomous snake, and Bothrops...

Introduction: This study aimed to document injuries caused by fish among professional fishermen in the Western Brazilian Amazon. Methods: We undertook a descriptive, retrospective study, involving 51 professional fishermen, to determine clinical, epidemiological, and therapeutic aspects of their injuries. Results: Among 51 fishermen interviewe...

Introduction: Fish accidents, called ichthyism, are common and considered a neglected health problem with high morbidity and low lethality. Noteworthy are the poisonings by freshwater stingrays, which are considered very serious and one of the most important injuries caused by aquatic animals in South America. Case Presentation: To describe an acci...

This study addresses the clinical and epidemiological aspects of envenoming cases resulting from snakebites treated at a hospital in Cruzeiro do Sul, in the upper Juruá River region, western Brazilian Amazonia. The specific identity of snakes that caused the envenomings was inferred (a) from the diagnosis of patient symptoms and signs upon hospital...

Coral snakes constitute a relatively diverse and little known group of venomous snakes. So far, data for this kind of snakebite in the Amazon region are based only on case reports. This study takes advantage of novel data from the Brazilian Health Ministry database from 2010 to 2015 and presents a review of the cases reported in the literature rega...

Background: The Alto Juruá region, located in the extreme western part of the Brazilian Amazonia, possesses an indigenous and riverine population which is involved in agricultural and forest extraction activities, and is a region that stands out for its high incidence of snakebites. Objectives: To assess the attitudes of the victims, the charact...