ABSTRACT
A quality assurance program of the Chagas's disease laboratory network of Argentina has been conducted by the National Reference Center since 1988, with the aim of assessing the reliability of serologic test results. Chagas's disease is endemic in Argentina, but the prevalence of seropositivity for Trypanosoma cruzi among 18- to 20-year-old men decreased from 5.8 por ciento in 1981 to 1.8 por ciento in 1994. About 600 laboratories form the Chagas's disease laboratory network, with main central laboratories in each of the 24 provinces in Argentina. The quality assurance program promotes regular use of good laboratory practice and internal and external quality control to improve performance of the participants; it also provides technical assistance and guidelines. Eventual corrective measures are discussed in workshops. Results of the first external evalutation by proficiency testing of serum panels and confirmation of results for 58 of the main laboratoires reveal that from 1988 to 1994 the rate of agreement has increased
Subject(s)
Chagas Disease , Laboratories , Quality Assurance, Health Care , Serologic Tests , ArgentinaABSTRACT
Venezuelan equine encephaltis (VEE) virus was isolated from sentinel hamsters exposed in the Rio de Oro region of Colombia, in the Lake Maracaibo drainage área near the border with Venezuela, in 1983-13 years after the first strain was isolated from the region near Tibu. Hydroxylapatite elution profiles of three isolates from the Rio de Oro region were typical of enzootic strains. Relative abundance data and past isolations suggest that culex (Melanoconion) pedroi is a probable enxootic vector at this focus. The virus was no isolated from forests near Santa Marta and Magangue in the Rio Magdalena drainage área in 1983-9 and 16 years, respectively, after the last previous isolations in those áreas. However, equine animals 2 to 10 years of age and humans 25 to 67 years of age living near the Magangue field study área were positive for VEE virus-specific neutralizing antibodies