Tattoos and transfusion-transmitted disease risk: implications for the screening of blood donors in Brazil

Having a tattoo has been associated with serological evidence of hepatitis B and C viruses, as well as human immunodeficiency virus infections and syphilis; all of these are known to be transmissible by blood transfusion. These associations are of higher magnitude for individuals with nonprofessionally-applied tattoos and with two or more tattoos. Tattoos are common among drug addicts and prisoners, conditions that are also associated with transfusion-transmitted diseases. We examined the implications of these associations for the screening of blood donors in Brazil. Numbers of individuals who would be correctly or unnecessarily deferred from blood donation on the basis of the presence of tattoos, and on their number and type, were calculated for different prevalence situations based on published odds ratios. If having a tattoo was made a deferral criterion, cost savings (due to a reduced need for laboratory testing and subsequent follow-up) would accrue at the expense of the deferral of appropriate donors. Restricting deferral to more at-risk sub-groups of tattooed individuals would correctly defer less individuals and would also reduce the numbers of potential donors unnecessarily deferred. Key factors in balancing cost savings and unnecessary deferrals include the magnitude of the pool of blood donors in the population, the prevalence of individuals with tattoos and the culture of tattoos in the population. Tattoos can therefore be an efficient criterion for the screening of blood donors in certain settings, a finding that requires corroboration from larger population-based studies.

South American rattlesnake bite and soft-tissue infection: report of a case

Relata-se o caso de um acidente ofídico por Crotalus durissus que apresentou como complicaçäo abscesso no local da picada. Abscessos säo uma complicaçäo rara deste tipo de acidente, possivelmente porque o veneno de serpentes da espécie Crotalus durissus näo apresenta uma forte açäo citotóxica

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in Brazil: clinical aspects of three new cases

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) has been recognized recently in Brazil, where 28 cases have been reported as of September 1999. We report here the clinical and laboratory findings of three cases whose diagnoses were confirmed serologically. All the patients were adults who presented a febrile illness with respiratory symptoms that progressed to respiratory failure that required artificial ventilation in two of them. Laboratory findings were most of the time consistent with those reported in the United States in patients infected with the Sin Nombre virus, and included elevated hematocrit and thrombocytopenia; presence of atypical lymphocytes was observed in one patient. The chest radiological findings observed in all the patients were bilateral, diffuse, reticulonodular infiltrates. Two patients died. Histopathological examination of the lungs of these patients revealed interstitial and alveolar edema, alveolar hemorrhage, and mild interstitial pneumonia characterized by infiltrate of immunoblasts and mononuclear cells. In the epidemiologic investigation of one of the cases, serologic (ELISA) tests were positive in 3 (25 percent) out of 12 individuals who shared the same environmental exposure. HPS should be included in the differential diagnosis of interstitial pneumonia progressing to acute respiratory failure

Histoplasmose em pacientes imunodeprimidos: estudo de 18 casos observados em Uberlândia, MG / Histoplasmosis in immunodepressed patients: a study of eighteen cases observed in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Os autores descrevem dezoito casos de histoplasmose observados em pacientes imunodeprimidos, sendo 17 com SIDA e um associado à cirrose hepática alcoólica. O diagnóstico de histoplasmose foi obtido através do isolamento do fungo em cultura de LCR, sangue e medula óssea ou por exame histopatológico obtido por biópsia ou necrópsia. A idade média dos pacientes foi de 35,8 anos, sendo 13 (72,2 por cento) do sexo masculino. Em geral a doença mostrou-se disseminada com acometimento por ordem de freqüência de: pele (38,8 por cento), medula óssea (27,7 por cento), mucosa nasofaringeana (22,2 por cento), pulmäo (22,2 por cento), cólon (11,1 por cento), SNC (5,5 por cento) e esôfago (5,5 por cento). Adenomegalia (50 por cento), hepatomegalia (77,7 por cento) e esplenomegalia (61,1 por cento) também foram observados com muita freqüência. Hematologicamente observou-se mais comumente pancitopenia (33,3 por cento). Onze dos 18 pacientes receberam tratamento, sendo 9 com anfotericina B e 2 com itraconazol; 8 obtiveram boa resposta clínica e todos receberam terapia de manutençäo com anfotericina B ou derivado triazólico. Este trabalho enfatiza a importância desta micose em pacientes imunodeprimidos, particularmente em pacientes com SIDA onde a infecçäo tende a acometer o sistema macrofágico-linfóide e o tegumento cutâneo.