versão impressa ISSN 1020-4989 Rev Panam Salud Publica vol.3
no.4 Washington Abr. 1998 |ABSTRACT||A quality assurance program
of the Chagas' disease laboratory network of Argentina has been
conducted by the National Reference Center since 1988, with the
aim of assessing the reliability of serologic test results.
Chagas' disease is endemic in Argentina, but the prevalence of
seropositivity for Trypanosoma cruzi among 18- to 20-year-old
men decreased from 5.8% in 1981 to 1.8% in 1994. About 600
laboratories form the Chagas' disease laboratory network, with
main central laboratories in each of the 24 provinces in
Argentina. The quality assurance program promotes regular use of
good laboratory practice and internal and external quality
control to improve performance of the participants; it also
provides technical assistance and guidelines. Eventual
corrective measures are discussed in workshops. Results of the
first external evaluation by proficiency testing of serum panels
and confirmation of results for 58 of t