JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS: Acredita-se que existe uma deficiência no ensino de Medicina Intensiva (MI) na graduação da maioria das escolas médicas, levando a um prejuízo na formação acadêmica de futuros médicos. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o ensino e o grau de interesse em MI por estudantes de Medicina de Salvador-BA. MÉTODO: Estudo transversal realizado em 2005 entre estudantes do 6º ao 12º semestres de duas escolas médicas baianas. Utilizou-se um questionário auto-aplicável composto de questões objetivas sobre interesse, habilidades e conhecimentos dos estudantes sobre MI, bem como a sua opinião sobre o ensino dessa especialidade em sua faculdade. RESULTADOS: Foram entrevistados 570 estudantes. A maioria (57,5%) nunca realizou estágio em unidades de terapia intensiva (UTI). Contudo, a utilidade deste para o futuro profissional de um médico foi classificada como alta (média de 4,14 ± 1,05, numa escala de 1 a 5) pelos entrevistados. O interesse em MI foi considerado alto ou muito alto por 53,7% da amostra. Quase todos os alunos (97%) acreditam que tópicos de MI devam ser mais explorados em seus currículos. Apenas 42,1% sentiam-se seguros em avaliar um paciente gravemente enfermo, sendo essa segurança maior entre aqueles que já realizaram estágios em UTI (p < 0,001). Os tópicos de MI de maior interesse foram choque, reanimação cardiopulmonar e sepse. CONCLUSÕES: O presente estudo revelou um alto interesse em Medicina Intensiva entre estudantes de Medicina da Bahia. Contudo, a maioria nunca realizou estágio em UTI, o que demonstrou ser importante fator na segurança do médico em formação frente ao paciente gravemente enfermo.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There are deficiencies on Intensive Medicine (IM) teaching in most of medical undergraduate schools. Those deficiencies may imply damages on their clinical competence. The objective of this study was to analyze current status of IM teaching and the medical undergraduate student interest in this speciality. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed in 2005. We applied a self-reported questionnaire to enrolled students between the sixth and the last semesters of two medical schools from Salvador-Bahia. The questionnaire contained questions about students' interest and knowledge on IM, and opinion on IM teaching in their schools. RESULTS: We studied 570 students. Most of them (57.5%) had never realized a clerkship in intensive care unit (ICU) despite classifying its usefulness as high (mean of 4.14 ± 1.05, in a scale from 1 to 5). IM interest was high or very high in 53.7% of sample. Almost all students (97%) thought that IM topics should be more explored at their curriculum. Only 42.1% reported to be able to assess a critical care patient and this assurance was higher among students with previous clerkship in ICU (p < 0.001). Shock, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and sepsis were the most interesting topics in ICU for students' opinion. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed a high interest in IM among medical undergraduate students. However, most had never practice a clerkship in ICU, demonstrating to be an important factor on undergraduate student performance faced to a critical care patient.

The main coreceptor gene involved in HIV-1 infection is CCR5 beta chemokine receptor gene for which several mutations have been described, some of which have correlated with HIV-1 infection, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), or both. Deletion of 32bp in the CCR5 gene (delta32) has been shown to confer resistance to infection by HIV-1 R5 strains. Another mutation, characterized by a thymine to adenine (T to A) nucleotide substitution at position 303 (m303), has shown the same effects as the delta32 mutation, with previous studies having shown that the allele frequency of the CCR5-m303 mutation is 0.014 in African-American and 0.007 in French populations. The Brazilian population is known to be genetically diverse, because of which we investigated the allele frequency of the CCR5-m303 mutation in three different Brazilian ethnic groups containing individuals who were not infected with HIV-1 and also in a cohort of HIV-1 long-term non-progressors. We used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and HincII restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) to investigate these populations and found that none of the 566 individuals examined the mutant CCR5-m303 allele. These results are in accordance with the previously reported allelic frequencies for African-American and Caucasian populations and may reflect the real prevalence of the m303 mutation in Brazil.