Resumo O herpes zoster (HZ), ou zona, é causado pela reativação do vírus varicela zoster latente. Trata-se de uma doença com elevada incidência, associada a grande morbilidade, que pode originar ou agravar uma situação de fragilidade do doente, o que realça a importância da vacinação. Entre os fatores de risco para HZ e nevralgia pós-herpética (NPH), a sua principal complicação, encontram-se a idade, a imunossupressão e a presença de doenças crónicas. A vacinação é uma estratégia eficaz na prevenção do HZ e da NPH. Em Portugal, estão disponíveis duas vacinas contra o HZ: a vacina viva atenuada e a vacina recombinante, a qual apresenta elevada eficácia contra o HZ e suas complicações, especialmente nas populações de maior risco, imunodeprimidas e com imunossenescência que têm contraindicação para a formulação viva atenuada. Contudo, a vacina contra o HZ não consta do Programa Nacional de Vacinação nem existem recomendações nacionais específicas para a imunização. Assim, a Sociedade Portuguesa de Medicina Interna e a As-sociação Portuguesa de Medicina Geral e Familiar elaboraram um documento de consenso que estabelece orientações para a vacinação contra o HZ. Recomenda-se a vacinação contra o HZ em todos os adultos com idade igual ou superior a 50 anos, assim como em adultos com idade entre 18 e 49 anos com risco elevado de zona, nomeadamente doentes com comorbilidades médicas ou imunossupressão. Os adultos imunocompetentes devem ser preferencialmente imunizados com a vacina recombinante, podendo receber a vacina viva atenuada em situações pontuais; os adultos imunocomprometidos só podem ser imunizados com a vacina recombinante. Recomenda-se a vacinação de indivíduos com antecedentes de zona e a imunização com a vacina recombinante de indivíduos previamente vacinados com a vacina viva atenuada. Salienta-se ainda a relevância da promoção da literacia do doente aquando do ato de prescrição da vacina contra o HZ, bem como o papel ativo do médico na sensibilização para a importância da vacinação contra esta patologia.

Abstract Herpes zoster (HZ), or shingles, is caused by the reactivation of the latent varicella zoster virus. It is a high-incidence disease, associated with great morbidity, which might create or worsen a patient’s frailty condition, thus reinforcing the importance of vaccination. Among the risk factors for HZ infection and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), its major complication, are age, immunosuppression and the presence of chronic conditions. Vaccination is an efficacious strategy to prevent HZ and PHN. In Portugal, there are two available HZ vaccines: the live attenuated vaccine and the recombinant vaccine, which demonstrated a high efficacy against HZ and its complications, particularly in the populations with higher risk, immunosuppressed and with immunosenescence for whom live attenuated vaccine is contraindicated. No-twithstanding, the HZ vaccine is not included in the National Vaccination Program and there are not specific national recommendations for immunization. Hence, the Portuguese Society of Internal Medicine and the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine elaborated a consensus re-port establishing guidelines for HZ vaccination. Vaccination against HZ is recommended for all adults aged 50 years and over, as well as for adults aged between 18 and 49 years at high risk for HZ, namely patients with comorbidities or immunosuppression. Immunocompetent adults should be preferentially immunized with the recombinant vaccine, although they might receive the live attenuated vaccine in punctual situations; immunocompromised adults should only be immuni-zed with the recombinant vaccine. The vaccination of individuals with a previous HZ episode is recommended, and individuals with prior immunization with the live attenuated vaccine should receive the recombinant vaccine. Promoting patient’s literacy when prescribing HZ vaccine is highly relevant, and the physician should have an active role in raising awareness about the importance of shingles vaccination.

A demência é uma síndrome neurológica de agravamento progressivo, sem cura, cuja prevalência tem vindo a aumentar devido ao envelhecimento da população. Existe um grande desconhecimento entre profissionais de saúde e cuidadores relativamente à melhor abordagem da alimentação nos doentes com demência avançada. Dado não existirem recomendações nacionais acerca deste tema, foi elaborado um documento de consenso da Sociedade Portuguesa de Medicina Interna e da Associação Portuguesa de Nutrição Entérica e Parentérica que explicita as orientações existentes relativas à abordagem dos problemas alimentares nos doentes com demência avançada. A demência avançada é uma condição terminal em que deve ser privilegiado o conforto do doente, frequen-temente acamado, incapaz de comunicar verbalmente e com dificuldade na alimentação. Nesta população, a literatura atual não recomenda o uso de alimentação por sonda (nasogástrica, nasojejunal, gastrostomia percutânea ou jejunostomia percutânea), que está associada a maior risco de infeção, maior utilização de meios de contenção e desenvolvimento de úlceras de decúbito. Como alternativa, recomenda-se a alimentação por via oral de acordo com a tolerância e vontade do doente (alimentação de conforto). Do ponto de vista ético e legal, é legítimo não proceder à artificialização da alimentação na fase terminal da demência caso este procedimento seja contrário aos valores da pessoa e não se objetivem benefícios. Esta decisão deve ser tomada após discussão multidisciplinar incluindo o doente (se possível), representante legal, cuidadores, família e equipa de profissionais de saúde envolvidos, elaborando um plano individual de cuidados que permita a tomada de decisões no melhor interesse do doente.

Dementia is a progressive neurological syndrome without cure whose prevalence is increasing due to population ageing. There is a lack of knowledge among healthcare professionals and caregivers regarding the best feeding approach in patients with advanced dementia. As there are no national recommendations on this subject, a consensus report from the Portuguese Society of Internal Medicine and the Portuguese Enteral and Parental Nutrition Society was made, clarifying existing guidelines regarding the approach of eating difficulties in these patients. Advanced dementia is a terminal condition where patient comfort should be the goal. These patients are usually bedbound, have limited ability to communicate verbally and have difficulty eating. In this population, current literature does not support tube feeding (nasogastric tube, nasojejunal tube, percutaneous gastrostomy or percutaneous jejunostomy feeding), which is associated with higher rates of infection, greater use of chemical and physical restraints and development of pressure ulcers. As an alternative, careful hand feeding should be offered (comfort feeding). From an ethical and legal standpoint, it is acceptable not to use tube feeding in the terminal phase of dementia if it is against patient values and offers no benefits. This decision should be made using a multidisciplinary approach including the patient (if possible), legal representative, caregivers, family and healthcare professionals, in order to establish an individual care plan allowing decision making in the patient’s best interest.

In Portugal, in 2018, 64.5% of dialysis patients were elderly and nearly a quarter were older than 80 years. Aging is a heterogeneous process: in some patients, there is a marked clinical improvement under renal replacement therapy (RRT) although others show an inexorable functional decline. Despite advances in dialysis, patient mortality rates remain high. These two phenomena have been difficult to understand and it may be difficult to decide which patients may benefit from RRT or conservative care. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is an instrument used by geriatricians to evaluate functionality and geriatric syndromes, allowing recognition of problems that would not otherwise be identified. It has been used to individualize and tailor therapies. CGA allows frailty identification (the major geriatric syndrome) and might better predict clinical prognosis and interventions' effectiveness. Physical frailty is a multifactorial condition that is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and its reversibility is hardly predictable when RRT is started so CGA might contribute to a better understanding of frailty in these patients. Therefore, it is possible that CGA application to CKD older patients would contribute to the selection of patients who might benefit the most from RRT and to improve patient clinical condition. This article aims to review geriatric syndromes and frailty in CKD patients, CGA potential to evaluate them and possible models to apply it.

An ELISA test for the serological diagnosisof amoebic liver abscess (ALA) was standardized and evaluated in sera from three groups of patients: (1) three patients with diagnosis confirmed by isolation of the parasite,(2) thirty seven patients with diagnosis established by clinical findings and ultrasound studies and (3) seven patients whose diagnosis were established by clinical findings and a positive double immunodifusion test. Ninety one serum samples from healthy subjects and 22 from patients with other liver or parasitic diseases were also included in the study. the optimum concentration of Entamoeba histolytica antigen was 1.25 µg/ml and optimum dilutions of serum and anti-human IgG-alkaline phosphatase conjugate were 1:400 and 1:4000 respectively. The cut-off point of the ELISA test in this study was an absorbance value of 0.34. The test parameters were: sensitivity = 95.7 per cent, specificty = 100 per cent, positive predictive value = 100 per cent and negative predictive value = 98.2 per cent.The ELISA test was found to be of great use as a diagnostic tool for the establishment of amoebic etiology in patients with clinical supposition of ALA. The test could also be used for seroepidemiological surveys of the prevalence of invasive amoebiasis in a given population, since it allows the processing of a greater number of samples at a lower cost tahn other serological tests.