Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), under the Ministry of Health, is the most prominent institution of science and technology in health in Latin America. The Foundation has sites in 10 states, and also has an office in Maputo, Mozambique. Fiocruz has units in the Northeast, North, Southeast and Southern regions of Brazil. Altogether, there are 16 scientific and technical units, focused on teaching, research, innovation, assistance, and technological development in the health field. There is also a technical unit for support, including the production of laboratory animals. The four technical and administrative units are dedicated to the physical management of the Foundation, its operations, and economic and financial management.

The Foundation runs more than a thousand research and technological development projects, which contribute to the control of diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria, Chagas’ disease, leprosy, measles, rubella, schistosomiasis, meningitis and hepatitis, and other topics related to public health, climate change, and the history of science.

Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas (INI) Hospital

Valeria Rolla, MD PhD

The Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas (INI) Hospital is a reference hospital within the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). INI has an inpatient unit with 20 beds, including 4 beds fitted for respiratory isolation and an Intensive Care Unit with 4 beds, including 1 for respiratory isolation. The outpatient unit provides care to patients referred for tuberculosis, acute febrile diseases, HIV/AIDS, Chagas disease, HTLV, leishmaniasis, and sporotrichosis, among others.

INI has extensive laboratory capabilities for infectious diseases, including TB. The laboratory unit is comprised of hematology, biochemistry, mycology, virology, immunology, and microbiology laboratories. There is also an area for diagnostic imaging (digital radiography, ultrasonography and computed tomography). Information regarding patient clinical data, diagnosis and exams are available in a network system called CECLIN.

INI – Clinical Research Laboratory on Mycobacteria (LAPCLIN-TB)

LAPCLIN -TB was created several years after serving as the TB program at Fiocruz. Since the 2000´s we have standardized the information collected for all TB-HIV patients. Later on, non-HIV infected individuals were also increasing in numbers and were included in our cohort. In 2010, LAPCLIN-TB increased the spectrum of  medical assistance, and included screening and care for TB close-contacts, as well as became another referral center for MDR-TB in Rio de Janeiro. LAPCLIN-TB is a benchmark for the treatment of drug-susceptible and multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB, including care for their close-contacts. Located in the ground floor of INI, the hospital provides care to patients referred from the INI outpatient unit and from the public healthcare network. LAPCLIN-TB diagnoses and treats 150 TB cases per year, of whom 30% are HIV-seropositive.

  • First site to recruit participants (June 30th 2015)
  • Population: DS-TB, MDR-TB, TB/HIV, TB close-contacts
  • Enrolled 373 participants in Phase 1 (194 TB cases and 179 close contacts)
  • Phase 2 enrollment is ongoing (2022-2027)
  • Micro Lab: INI, Fiocruz / Immuno Lab: IOC, Fiocruz

Microbiology Laboratory, INI, FIOCRUZ-RJ

  • Investigator: Cristina Lourenço, Pharm.
  • Population: DS-TB, MDR-TB, XDR-TB, TB/HIV
  • Lab is responsible for processing all samples from the Rio sites
    • Over 600 TB patients from RePORT (phase 1), with samples collected at Baseline, M1, M2 and end of treatment.
    • Participates in several other international research studies, including clinical trials
    • Provides training to other RePORT Microbiology Labs (locally and remotely)
  • Evaluated by SMILE since 2015 (for RePORT), and also other external and internal programs

Immunology Laboratory, Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas (LIPMED), Rio de Janeiro

  • Investigator: Adriano Gomes, PhD.
  • Lab is responsible for processing all samples from Rio de Janeiro sites
    • Over 750 participants from RePORT, with samples collected at Baseline, M1, M2 and end of treatment.
    • PBMCs and QuantiFERON, as well as plasma, urine, RNA, etc.
  • Evaluated by Duke University since June 2015
  • QuantiFERON training
  • External (Westat, PPD) monitoring visits

Site team:
Site Investigator: Valeria Rolla
Study Coordinator: Aline Benjamin
Study Nurse: Quezia Medeiros
Study Physician: Felipe Ridolfi
Immunology Lab: Adriano Gomes
Microbiology Lab: Cristina Lourenço, Marcus Rockembach, Leonardo Barreto