[External performance evaluation of screening in blood banks in Argentina: results and strategies for improvement].

Objectives: Because there was no program for the external evaluation of the quality of the screening for transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs) in blood banks in Argentina, in 1999 the Hemotherapy Service of Garrahan Hospital, in Buenos Aires, launched an ongoing external evaluation program, with the support of the Pan American Health Organization and the Argentine Hemotherapy and Immunohematology Association.

Methods: A panel of 12 samples that were reactive to all the markers screened for in Argentine blood banks was distributed. The panel was delivered to 52 laboratories in 1999, 102 laboratories in 2000, and 118 laboratories in 2001.

Oral ciprofloxacin in the management of children with cancer with lower risk febrile neutropenia.

Background: Recent reports and a previous randomized trial conducted at the authors' institution suggested that a lower risk subset of children with febrile neutropenia under chemotherapy might benefit of an oral antibiotic outpatient approach.

Methods: The objective of this study was to test the efficacy of oral ciprofloxacin in the treatment of lower risk febrile neutropenia (LRFN) in children treated for malignant diseases. From November 1998 to December 1999, 93 episodes of LRFN in 87 children (median age, 5.