Metropolitan Recife Research Articles

Hospital costs due to violence against children and adolescents in Pernambuco State, Brazil, during 1999

This study focused on expenditures under the Brazilian National Unified Health System (SUS) due to hospitalization of children and adolescents as the result of violence in Pernambuco State in 1999. Data were collected from the Hospital Admittance Forms covering the State of Pernambuco. Some 9,220 hospital admissions due to external causes were identified, with a cost of R$3,659,558.62. Mean cost of hospitalization for children and adolescents in Pernambuco State in 1999 was R$306.49. Mean cost of hospitalization due to external causes was R$396.91. Traumatic lesions were the most common reason for hospital admission (84.7%). Violence against children and adolescents in Greater Metropolitan Recife accounted for 65.1% of hospital admissions and 77.9% of all hospital costs in Pernambuco State.

Screening of army soldiers for Wuchereria bancrofti infection in the metropolitan Recife region, Brazil: implications for epidemiological surveillance.

Between 1989 and 1995, blood surveys were performed for Wuchereria bancrofti infection in several barracks of the Brazilian army in the metropolitan Recife region. For initial screening, 60 microliters of capillary blood were examined for microfilaria. All men who tested positive had microfilaria quantified by filtration of venous blood through a polycarbonate membrane. Of 23,773 men screened, 585 (2.5%) had microfilaria (mf). Microfilarial density ranged from < 1-8706 mf/ml of blood. Thirteen individuals had ultra-low microfilarial densities (1 mf/11 ml of blood). Characterization of 174 autochthonous cases made it possible to map 8 new districts in 4 cities within metropolitan Recife region where transmission of W. bancrofti was previously unknown. Routine screening of soldiers in the military may provide important surveillance data for national programmes to eliminate transmission of W. bancrofti.