Blood discard rate in a blood center in Curitiba - Brazil. Ten years of study.

Introduction: Development of technologies to reduce transfusion risks of infectious diseases is a major characteristic of hemotherapy. Thus, each donation undergoes clinical and serological screening tests to ensure the donated blood do not offer risks to the receiver.

Objective: Evaluate the prevalence of positive serology in blood donations rejected by Hemobanco (Curitiba - PR) in the period ranging from January 2003 to December 2012.

[Impact of antiretroviral therapy under different treatment regimens].

Objective: Compare the characteristics of AIDS patients and treatment outcomes under three different antiretroviral treatment regimens advocated by the Ministry of Health of Brazil.

Methods: Retrospective cohorts of patients who had survived up to five years after diagnosis were constructed. The data were obtained from medical records, medication dispensing forms, and death certificates of patients in Curitiba, in the Brazilian state of Paraná.

Leprosy and confinement due to leprosy show high association with hepatitis C in Southern Brazil.

Leprosy is a disease, which is accompanied by cellular immunity defects, which may increase the susceptibility of patients in developing co-infections. The association of leprosy with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV 1+2) infection and human T-lymphotropic virus types I and II (HTLV I+II) infection have previously been described in different populations. In this study, the prevalence of these infections was determined in 199 Southern Brazilian leprosy patients and in 681 matched controls.