[Chagas' disease: an evaluation of serodiagnosis at blood banks in the endemic areas of Chile].

: Blood transfusion is one mechanism leading to transmission of Chagas disease. An evaluation of the serologic method used to survey donors in 55 blood banks located in endemic areas was attempted. From 47 responders, 29 (62%) showed complete correlation with the standard used, 16 (34%) showed only 50% correlation and 2 were not possible to evaluate. Most errors were due to an incorrect evaluation of the negative standard serum, whereas the positive one was correctly diagnosed as such in 96% of cases.