Roughly 200 000 000 people in 74 countries infected with schistosomes all share the fact that they came in contact freshwater harbouring infected snails. The aim of the study is to characterize the microbiota of wild and laboratory-reared snails of Biomphalaria glabrata from Pernambuco, Brazil. The microbiota of these molluscs was identified biochemically by the VITEK 2 automated microbiological system. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was carried out by the disc diffusion method with ß-lactam antibiotics, aminoglycosides, quinolones, folate pathway inhibitors, fenicols and tetracyclines. The results showed that all bacteria identified were gram-negative, including 11 bacterial genera: Aeromonas, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Cupriavidus, Rhizobium, Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Vibrio and Sphingomonas. Regarding the antimicrobial susceptibility, all the isolates exhibited resistance to amoxicillin and sensitivity to meropenem (beta-lactam antimicrobials). The microbiota of the wild snails consisted predominantly of Enterobacter cloacae, while the laboratory-reared snails predominantly showed Citrobacter freundii and Aeromonas sobria. Significance and Impact of the Study Biomphalaria glabrata is a Brazilian freshwater Planorbidae of great medical relevance as an intermediate host of Schistosoma mansoni. About a month after being infected by one or more miracidia larvae of a compatible schistosome, B. glabrata sheds thousands of cercariae into the water where they seek human skin and, if successful, penetrate to establish infection, eventually taking up residence and maturing in blood vessels of the small intestine. Results obtained from this study aim at targeting novel biological control strategies for schistosomiasis such as paratransgenesis. This is the first study on the microbiota of B. glabrata from Brazil.

Brazil is among the top five countries worldwide regarding the number of cases of leishmaniasis, which are present in all of the regions of the country. The northeastern region continues to have higher numbers of cases every year and in the state of Pernambuco, 34% of the municipalities are endemic for this disease. The diversity of vectors, reservoirs and etiological agents, in association with socioeconomic and environmental conditions, gives rise to factors that can modify the behavior of American cutaneous leishmaniasis. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to determine the risk factors associated with American cutaneous leishmaniasis in the municipality of Timbaúba, Brazil. A case-control study was conducted. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The study included 58 cases and 174 controls, and they were serologically diagnosed at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ). Our results showed that some factors were associated with American cutaneous leishmaniasis: biological (gender), economic (work activity, hours spent away from home and water supply) and peridomestic (presence of animals). In our study, the associations of these variables with leishmaniasis were linked to precarious housing conditions and poverty, which are parameters that can be managed in order to prevent the disease in this region.

Key words: Class 1 integron; Klebsiella pneumonia ; Phylogenetic groups