BACKGROUND Sporotrichosis is a subcutaneous mycosis caused by dimorphic pathogenic fungi belonging to the Sporothrix genus. Pathogenic Sporothrix species typically produce melanin, which is known to be a virulence factor. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to perform phenotypic, genotypic, and virulence analyses of two distinct Sporothrix brasiliensis strains isolated from the same lesion on a patient from Rio de Janeiro. METHODS AND FINDINGS Genotypic analyses by partial sequencing of the calmodulin, β-tubulin, and chitin synthase genes, as well as polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-fingerprinting by T3B, M13, and GACA, showed that the isolates were very similar but not identical. Both isolates had similar phenotypic characteristics and effectively produced melanin in their yeast forms, accounting for their ability of causing disease in a murine sporotrichosis model. Remarkably, isolate B was albino in its environmental form but caused more severe disease than the pigmented A isolate. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that the patient was infected by two genetically and biologically distinct S. brasiliensis that vary in their production of melanin in their environmental forms. The results underscore the importance of characterizing phenotypically different isolates found in the same clinical specimen or patient.

A biossegurança é um campo do conhecimento que insere questões voltadas para organismos geneticamente modificados e relacionadas à proteção social e ocupacional do trabalhador. O seu processo educativo visa à formação de um agente participativo-transformador e, portanto, deve ultrapassar a simples ideia da normalização. Dessa forma, é importante contextualizar a biossegurança dentro de uma estratégia de ensino construtivista com a identificação dos seus conceitos estruturantes - risco, perigo e acidente - que permitam ao indivíduo compreender como o risco é percebido na sociedade e enfocado na academia para, em seguida, agregar múltiplas competências e enfrentá-lo. Conhecer como as relações de trabalho-saúde, suas implicações e impactos vem sendo construídas ao longo do tempo, pode formar um cidadão mais crítico e preparado para participar das decisões de ordem político-social que podem influenciar o seu futuro.

Biosafety is a field of knowledge that raises questions geared to genetically modified organisms that are linked to social and job-related employee protection. The educational process involves seeking to create a participative and transforming agent and must therefore transcend the simple concept of teaching. Thus, it is important to contextualize biosafety within a constructive teaching strategy by identification of its core concepts - risk, hazard and accident - which allows each individual to understand how risk is perceived within society and dealt with in academia in order to add multiple skills to tackle the situation. Understanding how the relationship between work and health and its consequences and effects are constructed over the course of time, makes it possible to train more critical and well prepared citizens to participate in decisions of a political and social nature that can influence their future.

A biossegurança é um campo do conhecimento que insere questões voltadas para organismos geneticamente modificados e relacionadas à proteção social e ocupacional do trabalhador. O seu processo educativo visa à formação de um agente participativo-transformador e, portanto, deve ultrapassar a simples ideia da normalização. Dessa forma, é importante contextualizar a biossegurança dentro de uma estratégia de ensino construtivista com a identificação dos seus conceitos estruturantes - risco, perigo e acidente - que permitam ao indivíduo compreender como o risco é percebido na sociedade e enfocado na academia para, em seguida, agregar múltiplas competências e enfrentá-lo. Conhecer como as relações de trabalho-saúde, suas implicações e impactos vem sendo construídas ao longo do tempo, pode formar um cidadão mais crítico e preparado para participar das decisões de ordem político-social que podem influenciar o seu futuro.

Biosafety is a field of knowledge that raises questions geared to genetically modified organisms that are linked to social and job-related employee protection. The educational process involves seeking to create a participative and transforming agent and must therefore transcend the simple concept of teaching. Thus, it is important to contextualize biosafety within a constructive teaching strategy by identification of its core concepts - risk, hazard and accident - which allows each individual to understand how risk is perceived within society and dealt with in academia in order to add multiple skills to tackle the situation. Understanding how the relationship between work and health and its consequences and effects are constructed over the course of time, makes it possible to train more critical and well prepared citizens to participate in decisions of a political and social nature that can influence their future.

Este artigo refere-se a uma revisão bibliográfica realizada através do portal da Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde com objetivo de identificar os artigos científicos relacionados à biossegurança, publicados em periódicos nacionais, visando a conhecer inicialmente de que forma esse tema vem sendo abordado no Brasil e como está inserido no nexo trabalho e na educação do profissional da área de saúde. Foram identificados inicialmente 126 artigos publicados durante o período de 1989 a outubro de 2009, em periódicos nacionais na área de saúde. Do total de artigos, 46 estavam relacionados diretamente à temática educação, mas apenas oito abordaram a prática educacional em biossegurança. Identificou-se também que a região Sudeste concentrou o maior número de publicação (77 artigos) acerca do tema biossegurança. Apesar da abrangência dos artigos analisados, ainda existe muito que pesquisar sobre o assunto, de forma a ampliar o debate sobre a educação profissional para o setor saúde, onde o trabalhador seja considerado como sujeito da aprendizagem, capaz de ter uma postura crítica-reflexiva do seu ambiente ocupacional.

This article refers to a bibliographic review carried out through a Virtual Health Library website in order to identify scientific articles related to Biosafety, published in Brazilian journals. The aim is to investigate how this issue has been discussed in Brazil and how it is placed in the work nexus and in the education of healthcare professionals./ Initially, 126 articles were identified, published during the period of 1989 to 2009 in Brazilian journals related to the health area. Of these, 46 were directly related to education, but only eight approached educational practice in Biosafety. It was also identified that the Southeast region concentrated the highest number of Biosafety articles (77 articles). Despite the scope of these articles, there is still much to research on the subject in order to amplify the debate on professional education in the health area, in such a way that the employees are considered the subjects of the learning process, capable of having a critical and reflective attitude concerning their work environment.

Este artigo refere-se a uma revisão bibliográfica realizada através do portal da Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde com objetivo de identificar os artigos científicos relacionados à biossegurança, publicados em periódicos nacionais, visando a conhecer inicialmente de que forma esse tema vem sendo abordado no Brasil e como está inserido no nexo trabalho e na educação do profissional da área de saúde. Foram identificados inicialmente 126 artigos publicados durante o período de 1989 a outubro de 2009, em periódicos nacionais na área de saúde. Do total de artigos, 46 estavam relacionados diretamente à temática educação, mas apenas oito abordaram a prática educacional em biossegurança. Identificou-se também que a região Sudeste concentrou o maior número de publicação (77 artigos) acerca do tema biossegurança. Apesar da abrangência dos artigos analisados, ainda existe muito que pesquisar sobre o assunto, de forma a ampliar o debate sobre a educação profissional para o setor saúde, onde o trabalhador seja considerado como sujeito da aprendizagem, capaz de ter uma postura crítica-reflexiva do seu ambiente ocupacional.

This article refers to a bibliographic review carried out through a Virtual Health Library website in order to identify scientific articles related to Biosafety, published in Brazilian journals. The aim is to investigate how this issue has been discussed in Brazil and how it is placed in the work nexus and in the education of healthcare professionals./ Initially, 126 articles were identified, published during the period of 1989 to 2009 in Brazilian journals related to the health area. Of these, 46 were directly related to education, but only eight approached educational practice in Biosafety. It was also identified that the Southeast region concentrated the highest number of Biosafety articles (77 articles). Despite the scope of these articles, there is still much to research on the subject in order to amplify the debate on professional education in the health area, in such a way that the employees are considered the subjects of the learning process, capable of having a critical and reflective attitude concerning their work environment.

Molecular characterization of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis variant strains that had been preserved under mineral oil for decades was carried out by random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis (RAPD). On P. brasiliensis variants in the transitional phase and strains with typical morphology, RAPD produced reproducible polymorphic amplification products that differentiated them. A dendrogram based on the generated RAPD patterns placed the 14 P. brasiliensis strains into five groups with similarity coefficients of 72%. A high correlation between the genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of the strains was observed. A 750 bp-RAPD fragment found only in the wild-type phenotype strains was cloned and sequenced. Genetic similarity analysis using BLASTx suggested that this RAPD marker represents a putative domain of a hypothetical flavin-binding monooxygenase (FMO)-like protein of Neurospora crassa.