[Serologic screening of infectious diseases in blood banks as an indicator of morbidity in the population]. / Rastreamento sorológico para doenças infecciosas em banco de sangue como indicador de morbidade populacional.

Screening tests of 62,814 blood donations carried out between October 85 and October 87 in all five blood banks of Goiânia, Central Brazil, were analysed. The private institutions (3 blood banks) collected 80% of all donations and the remaining were collected by public blood banks. Seroprevalence of HIV, HBsAg, Chagas' disease and syphilis were compared with data obtained in the surveillance system and from previous surveys in an attempt to validate this source of health information. A seroprevalence of 0.07% for AIDS (one ELISA test) was calculated, which may suggest the presence of 1900 infected individuals, in the population of the State of Goiás as a whole. This figure seems reasonably close to the official data obtained by compulsory notification. For Chagas' disease, hepatitis B and syphilis seroprevalence of 3.3%, 1.3% and 4.1% were obtained, respectively. The potential usefulness and the limitations of screening in blood banks as a source of reliable morbidity indicator is discussed.

Haemophilic neuromyopathy.

Twenty haemophilic patients were examined neurologically and found to have varying degrees of muscle atrophy. The pathogenesis of the atrophy was investigated by electromyography, serum muscle enzyme levels, and muscle biopsies. In most cases the EMG showed such abnormalities as reduced numbers of functioning motor units and "myopathic" motor unit potentials. Serum enzyme levels were frequently raised, and type 2 fibre atrophy was found in the three patients who underwent muscle biopsy. These findings suggest the presence of neuromyopathic involvement in haemophilic patients.