Manifestations of sickle cell disease (SCD) begin early in childhood and cause morbidity and decreased life expectancy. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is curative but associated with risk of mortality attributable to the transplant. This risk should be counterbalanced with SCD morbidity and mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is unknown whether HTLV-1/2 prevalence has been stable or changing with time in Brazil. We present a 10-year (2007-2016) analysis of HTLV-1/2 infection in first-time blood donors from four blood banks in Brazil. The Brazilian blood centers participating in this multicenter Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study (REDS) are located in Recife in the Northeast and in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte located in the Southeast of the country.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a multisystem disorder characterized by a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and severity. Studies investigating potential effects of co-morbid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and SCD have produced conflicting results, and additional investigations are needed to elucidate whether the interaction between the two disease states might impact both HIV and SCD clinical outcomes. The association of HIV infection with clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with SCD was assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) often require red blood cell (RBC) transfusion for clinical complications, so may be exposed to transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs). The prevalence of markers for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and B (HBV), human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV-1/2), Chagas disease, and syphilis in an SCD cohort in Brazil were studied.
Study Design And Methods: Clinical history, interview data, blood samples, and medical chart review data were collected during cohort enrollment from November 2013 to May 2015.
HIV test-seeking behavior among blood donors has been observed worldwide and may pose a threat to the safety of the blood supply. We evaluated current test-seeking motivations and prior alternative HIV testing experiences among blood donors in São Paulo, Brazil. All candidate or potential blood donors were consecutively approached and recruited to participate in the study upon presentation at Fundação Pró-Sangue Hemocentro, the largest blood bank in Brazil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in a blood bank in São Paulo, we tested the hypotheses that offering client-centered human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) counseling and testing to blood donors would: 1) reduce the risk of HIV contamination in the blood supply by diverting higher-risk, test-seeking donors away from donation and 2) increase return for results and referrals to care.
Study Design And Methods: We randomly selected weeks between August 2012 and May 2013 when donors were offered HIV counseling and testing (n = 6298), leaving usual procedure weeks as control (n = 5569).
Results: Few candidate donors chose HIV testing (n = 81, 1.
The Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS) program was established in the United States in 1989 with the purpose of increasing blood transfusion safety in the context of the HIV/AIDS and human T-lymphotropic virus epidemics. REDS and its successor, REDS-II were at first conducted in the US, then expanded in 2006 to include international partnerships with Brazil and China. In 2011, a third wave of REDS renamed the Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study-III (REDS-III) was launched.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Mediastinal masses in pediatric patients are very heterogeneous in origin and etiology. In the first decade of life, 70% of the mediastinal masses are benign whereas malignant tumors are more frequent in the second decade of life. Among the mediastinal masses, lymph nodes are the most common involved structures and could be enlarged due to a lymphoma, leukemia, metastatic disease, or due to infectious diseases as sarcoidosis, tuberculosis and others.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk factor screening among blood donors remains a cornerstone for the safety of blood supply and is dependent on prospective donor self-disclosure and an attentive predonation interview. Audio computer-assisted structured interview (ACASI) has been shown to increase self-reporting of risk behaviors.
Study Design And Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2009 and March 2011 at four Brazilian blood centers to identify the population of HIV-negative eligible blood donors that answered face-to-face interviews without disclosing risks, but subsequently disclosed deferrable risk factors by ACASI.
Background And Objectives: Although the incidence of TRALI is unknown in Brazil, some blood centers have adopted strategies to prevent TRALI. We evaluated the impact of three policies to mitigate TRALI on the supply of blood products: to divert the production of whole blood-derived plasma from female donors; to defer all female donors from apheresis platelet collections, and to defer only multiparous female donors from apheresis platelet collections.
Materials And Methods: Data from allogeneic whole blood and apheresis platelet donations from April 2008 to December 2009 were collected in three Brazilian blood centers and the impact of the aforementioned strategies was evaluated.
Background: We evaluate the current prevalence of serologic markers for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in blood donors and estimated HCV incidence and residual transfusion-transmitted risk at three large Brazilian blood centers.
Study Design And Methods: Data on whole blood and platelet donations were collected from January through December 2007, analyzed by center; donor type; age; sex; donation status; and serologic results for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), and anti-HCV. HBV and HCV prevalence rates were calculated for all first-time donations.
The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and risk factors of early ovarian failure in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) women treated with cyclophosphamide (CY). We further tried to determine if there was a reduction of ovarian failure in recent years, due to reduction in the CY dose. We reviewed the charts of all women below 40 years of age who received intravenous CY pulse therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF