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FUNDAÇÃO PRÓ-SANGUE HEMOCENTRO DE SÃO PAULO
Fundação Pró-Sangue/Hemocentro de São Paulo (FPS/HSP) designated an ICBS Collaborating Center effective May 20, 2003, is the largest blood bank in Latin America. It collects, tests and processes approximately 200,000 units of blood annually. This blood bank belongs to the Health Department of the State of São Paulo and is based at the major public hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. FPS/HSP is also associated with the Department of Hematology of the Medical School of the University of São Paulo.
FPS/HSP is a reference center of the Ministry of Health, of the Pan-American Health Organization (OPAS) and of the World Health Organization (WHO). Pró-Sangue is also a reference laboratory of the International Hemophiliac Society. In addition it is a member of the Serum Cells and Rare Fluids-SCARF, a group that is formed by international specialists who work in reference laboratories and exchange rare samples. Furthermore, Pró-Sangue is a "twin-partner" of The Mount Sinai Medical Center located in New York, NY, USA.
In 1998, the institution received the ISO 9002 certificate from the British Standards Institution, thus becoming the first Brazilian public blood center to have the quality control of its products and services tested and certified by an international organization.
The Department of Serology of FPS/HSP has 4 laboratories:
a screening laboratory, which performs routine testing for the following infections: HIV-1/2, HTLVI/II, HCV, Hepatitis B, (HBsAg and anti-HBc), Syphilis and Chagas disease
a diagnostic laboratory which performs confirmatory tests on all initially positive samples
a quality control laboratory, which produces panels of sera for external and internal quality control programs and panels for evaluation of kits and kit lots
a molecular biology laboratory, which performs techniques such as PCR and DNA sequencing for research. Since 1994 FPS/HSP has been engaged in studying viruses known to be transmissible by blood (HIV-1, HCV, HBV and HTLV-1), as well as those viruses whose clinical relevance is less clear, but which also are transmissible by blood, such as, parvovirus, HGV and TTV.
Terms of Reference
· Provide Batch to Batch HCV kits evaluation services to manufacturers in Latin America (and willing manufacturers from other parts of the world based on agreements with the manufacturers)
· Evaluate available commercial test kits used for blood donors screening for Chagas, using the Fundação Pró-sangue/Hemocentro panel composed of plasma units positive for Chagas and normal plasma resourced from countries of Latin America
· Train blood safety personnel in:
o evaluation of test kits used to screen blood donors for blood transmissible infections (TTI).
o implementation and upgrading of the national programs of quality control and External Quality Assessment Schemes for TTI testing/screening.
o organization of courses and workshops on blood safety in Fundação Pró-sangue/Hemocentro and elsewhere as needed.
· Provide short-term training in blood safety for trainees from the developing world.
· Standardize procedures/produce and prepare serum panels for batch-to-batch evaluation of TTI screening test kits.
· Provide information about the prevalence of TTI in Brazil and neighboring countries.
· Provide epidemiological evaluation of other TTI that blood units are not usually screened for (e.g., Parvovirus B19, TTV, HGV, SEN-V, Herpes VIII, West Nile Virus etc.).
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