Tuberculosis in county jail prisoners in the western sector of the city of São Paulo, brazil.

SETTING: Tuberculosis (TB) status among county jail prisoners in the western sector of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of TB disease and the rate of TB infection in prisoners. DESIGN: An observational study was conducted in 2000-2001 among 1052 prisoners in nine São Paulo county jails. After the application of an interview and tuberculin skin testing (TST), the following laboratory investigations were carried out: sputum smear examination and culture, identification and drug sensitivity testing. RESULTS: Of 1052 prisoners, 932 underwent TST (PPD RT23 - 2TU/0.1 ml) and 64.5% were reactors. The prevalence rate of prisoners with active TB per 100,000 prisoners was 2065, around 70 times higher than among the Brazilian population and 79 times higher than in the population of the city of São Paulo. Among the 21 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains identified, 85.7% were sensitive and 9.5% were resistant to isoniazid (INH) and rifampicin (RMP); 4.8% of the total were resistant to INH, RMP and pyrazinamide. CONCLUSION: TB prevalence and infection rates were much higher in prisoners than among the general population.

Evaluation of the polarographic technique for assay of the viability of freeze-dried BCG vaccine: I. The polarographic technique.

In this paper, a new assay based on oxygen uptake assessed by polarography was evaluated with the aim of establishing the viability of freeze-dried BCG vaccine. An oxygen electrode possessing a temperature sensor was designed for this purpose. The polarographic method used had several advantages, particularly its rapidity and use of small amounts of biological material. These advantages are ideal for quality control of BCG vaccine.

Evaluation of the polarographic technique for assay of the viability of freeze-dried BCG vaccine: II. Viability of the vaccine assessed by polarography, Warburg respirometry and colony counting.

A comparative study of the viability of 34 lots of freeze-dried BCG vaccine has been carried out using an oxygen electrode polarographic technique, Warburg respirometry and colony counting. There were no statistical differences between the results obtained with the polarographic and Warburg techniques. Both methods gave reliable and similar results and showed a positive correlation (r = 0.8615). Comparison between the polarographic and colony-counting methods showed a positive correlation (r = 0.6530); for comparison between the Warburg and colony-counting methods, the correlation value was r = 0.6868. All the tests were significant at the level of alpha = 0.05. The advantages of the polarographic technique are that it is much less time- and material-consuming than other methods. It is a reliable, inexpensive and convenient method for BCG vaccine quality control.

Avaliacao da aplicabilidade da radiacao gama no preparo da vacina antipertussis. / Evaluation of the applicability of gamma rays in the preparation of pertussis vaccine

Usando o teste de toxidez e protecao em camundongos, doze lotes de vacina antipertussis foram inativadas utilizando o metodo classico e o metodo por radiacao ionizante gama, obtida a partir do cobalto 60 de fonte radioativa J.S 7.400, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, e conservadas em camara fria a 2oC a 8oC por tres meses. No grupo submetido a radiacao houve inativacao de bacterias, porem nao se obteve destoxificacao imediata. A imunogenicidade da vacina nao foi alterada pela radiacao, tendo a atividade protetora ocorrido semelhantemente nos dois metodos