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TROPICAL medicine
presentation
The year was dedicated to reflection on
the future model for the Clinical Unit. We
therefore held discussions with the editor
of Acta Médica Portuguesa, Professor Rui
Tato Marinho and with the coordinator of
the Bandim Health Project in Bissau, Pro-
fessor Peter Aaby. At the end of the year,
the Director of the Institute appointed a
Commission to propose some guidelines
for the reform of the Unit. This committee
is chaired by Professor Dr. Kamal Mansin-
ho and includes Professor Jorge Seixas
and Dr. Philip Havik, all 3 from the IHMT,
Professor José Muñoz, of Spanish na-
tionality, from ISI Global, Barcelona, and
Professor Michael Makanga, of Ugandan
nationality, Executive Director of EDCTP in
the Hague, Netherlands.
Teaching was enriched by the relocation
of our masters and doctoral programs to
the Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da
Bahia, with 20 and 4 students respectively.
Five master’s theses and one doctoral
thesis were successfully defended.
The Unit’s research is aligned with the sub-
jects of the two thematic lines and three
GHTM research groups, resulting in 13
publications.
The number of medical appointments
scheduled by members of the Unit at the
ADMT increased from 368 in 2013 to 839
in 2015. The Clinical Laboratory carried out
a total of 1282 analyses in 604 patients.
Members of the unit developed consultan-
cy activities in Mozambique and Angola.
MAIN RESEARCH topics
On the subject of “Neglected Tropical
Diseases” and under the BERENICE
project, funded by the FP7 of the Euro-
pean Commission Programme, the first
pre-clinical trials on new pharmaceuti-
cal formulations containing Benznidazol
were held in 2015. Three nanoformula-
tions were evaluated in acute toxicity
tests in mice and toxicity was not higher
than Benznidazol. In 2016, formulations
will be submitted to clinical phase trial for
humans. Since the project involves intel-
lectual property and patent production,
no results have been published to date.
The project will have a duration of five
years and is scheduled to be completed
in August 2017.
On “Health of Migrants and Travellers”,
one article was published. With regard
to the project “Tropical Modernity, Public
Health and Endemic Disease Control“,
visits in libraries and archives in Portu-
gal and abroad took place, including the
Wellcome Library, the National Archives
and the School for Oriental and African
Studies (SOAS/UCL) in London, as well
They also participated in the management
team and activities performed by the Por-
tuguese Society for Travel Medicine, the
Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, and
the Medical Council’s College of Tropical
Medicine, as well as in the works of the
vaccine committe of SIP/SPP.
as the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in Brussels. We collected information on
malaria control policies, sleeping sick-
ness and STDs in the Portuguese, Eng-
lish and Belgian colonies in Africa. One
of the first results of ongoing research on
the history of the IHMT was published in
the Institute’s Historical Records.
TOP 5 PUBLICAÇÕES
PUBLICATIONS
Escobar C, Pateira S, Lobo E, Lobo L,
Teodosio R, Dias F, Fernandes N, Arez AP,
Varandas L, Nogueira F:
Polymorphisms
in Plasmodium falciparum K13-
Propeller in Angola and Mozambique
after the Introduction of the ACTs
. Plos
One, 2015, 10(3): e0119215.
Havik PJ:
Female Entrepreneurship
in West Africa: Trends and Trajectories
.
Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary
Journal, 2015, 10:164-177.
Querido JFB, Echeverría MG, Marti GA,
Costa RM, Susevich ML, Rabinovich JE,
Copa A, Montaño NA, Garcia L, Cordova
M, Torrico F, Sánchez-Eugenia R, Sánchez-
Magraner L, Muñiz-Trabudua X, López-
Marijuan I, Rozas-Dennis G, Diosque P,
Castro AM, Robello C, Rodríguez JS,
Altcheh J, Salazar-Schettino PM, Bucio
MI, Espinoza B, Guérin DMA, Silva MS:
Seroprevalence of Triatoma virus
(Dicistroviridae: Cripaviridae) antibodies
in Chagas disease patients
. Parasites &
Vectors, 2015, 8: 29.
Teles F, Seixas J:
The future of novel
diagnostics in medical mycology
.
Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2015,
64:315-322.
Yamamoto ES, Campos BL, Jesus JA,
Laurenti MD, Ribeiro SP, Kallás EG, Rafael-
Fernandes M, Santos-Gomes G, Silva MS,
Sessa DP, Lago JH, Levy D, Passero LF:
The Effect of Ursolic Acid on Leishmania
(Leishmania) amazonensis Is Related
to Programed Cell Death and Presents
Therapeutic Potential in Experimental
Cutaneous Leishmaniasis
. PLoS One,
2015, 10(12):e0144946.
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