1995 Volume 37 Issue 4 Pages 835-840
A screening examination for blood-borne infectious diseases was performed on 984 patients who received gastrointestinal endoscopy at gastrointestinal Diagnosis and Research Center, Campinas University, Brazil. This study was planned to know the incidence of high-risk patients and how to prevent the transmission of the diseases during endoscopic examination at an international medical cooperation project. The positive rates of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hurnan ilnmunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody, and Treponema Palidum hemagglutination antibody (TPHA) were 1.2%, 2.3% and 8.4%, respectively. The HIV positive rate was significantly high in male patients younger than 30 yrs. Nine patients were positive for HIV and TPHA, simultaneously. Only aprox. 15% of the patients who showed positive infectious markers were predicted before examination by the clinical information obtained from attending clinicians. These findings suggest that, in the practical field of international medical cooperation projects, screening examinations for blood-borne infectious diseases should be performed before digestive endoscopic examination.
