[Control of hemotherapy and transfusional Chagas disease: 1988 and 1990]

An inquiry with the objective of bringing the study of the hemotherapy situation in the state of S. Paulo, up-to-date was undertaken in 1990 and compared with that carried out in 1988. In 1990 research was undertaken in 62 counties, 48 of which performed blood transfusions through 104 services, with hemocenter participation in 13.5% of these latter. In 1988 the respective figures were 57, 40, 71 and 8.5%. The number of donors and transfusions and prevalence of serological positivity for Chagas' disease were, respectively: 105,170; 79,544 and 1.24%, while in 1988 the corresponding numbers were: 51,614; 49,211 and 1.52%. Evaluating the serological selection it was found that the following percentages of the services performed serological tests: for Chagas' disease (94.2%), syphilis (94.2%), hepatitis (94.2%), HIV (92.3%) and malaria (20.2%) while in 1988 only 69.0%; 70.4%; 67.6%, 63.4% and 16.9%, respectively, of the services utilized these same tests. In respect of the serological trial specific for Chagas' disease the results were: complement fixation-4.9%; latex-4.0%; indirect immunofluoresce-80%; direct hemaglutination-24.0%, indirect hemaglutination-69.0% and ELISA-59.0% of all services. In the preceding inquiry only 14.3% of the services performed the ELISA test, and complement fixation was utilized in 28.6%. The results show that the services are utilizing ever more sensitive techniques in the serological routine. Further it was observed that in 1988, 77.6% of all the services studied used only one technique for the diagnosis of Chagas' disease while in 1990 92.9% utilized two or more different techniques. It is concluded that the quality of the hemotherapy undertaken in the state of S. Paulo has improved significantly.