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Groundwater is the main source of drinking water for the city of Ipatinga/MG, Brazil. However, there is a lack of study about hydrogeology in the region, as well as indications of quality alterations of water resources. The goal is to understand the hydrogeology surrounding the COPASA's Water Treatment Plant and the Piracicaba river areas, where the main water supply wells are located. Maps of potentiometric surface, isobaths and isopachs, hydrogeological cross-section, aquifer pumping tests, and physicochemical analysis interpretations were performed. Results indicate the aquifer is unconfined, with high transmissivity and hydraulic conductivity values, which explain the high values of discharge in the wells. The Piracicaba river can be considered as influent, with its water flow converging to the aquifer. Groundwater shows chemical parameters at low levels, according to Brazilian drinking-water quality guidelines, with local presence of aluminum, iron, and manganese, requiring only conventional treatment processes before distribution.

Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection has not been reported as a major opportunistic infection among patients with AIDS in Latin America or Africa. In this study, 125 AIDS patients who had persistent fever, anemia, and leukopenia were examined among 2628 AIDS patients admitted to Instituto de Infectologia Emilio Ribas between May 1990 and April 1992. From the bone marrow aspirates of the 125 patients, MAC was isolated from 23 (18.4%) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated from 9 (7.2%). Between 1985 and 1990, only 11 MAC isolations among 60,000 cultures obtained from human immunodeficiency virus-seronegative patients were documented in Sao Paulo. Hence, the minimal estimated rate ofMAC infection in AIDS patients in this city was 23/2628, or 0.88%. These findings suggest that MAC infection is an important opportunistic infection, especially among a subset of patients with AIDS in Brazil who have clinical characteristics and risk activities similar to those associated with MAC infections in North America and Europe.