Prevalence of serological ineligibility among blood donors of a Hemotherapy Center in Caxias do Sul, southern Brazil

Introduction: Blood donation should be voluntary, anonymous and altruistic, and the donor should not, directly or indirectly, receive any remuneration or benefit by virtue of donating blood. Like any other therapeutic method, transfusion procedures are not risk free and can expose the patient to a several complications. Serological screening is of great importance to ensure transfusion safety. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of serological ineligibility among blood donors from a Hemotherapy Center in Caxias do Sul (RS). Method: An exploratory, descriptive and quantitative study was conducted on data from July 2010 to December 2015 collected at a Hemotherapy Center in Caxias do Sul (RS). Results: During the study period, 14,267 blood donors attended the Hemotherapy Center, of which 9,332 (65.40%) were males and 4,935 (34.60%) were female. Considering only the suitable donors, 12,702 blood donations were performed, 144 (1.13%) presented positive serological tests. The most prevalent positive serology was for hepatitis B (anti-HBc) with 98 cases (0.77%), followed by syphilis with 19 cases (0.15%); Chagas disease, with 10 (0.08%); hepatitis C, with nine (0.07%); and HIV and HTLV, with four (0.03%) reactive samples each. Conclusion: The results presented are important for health surveillance and make it possible to take measures to ensure safe blood stocks (AU)

A comparative evaluation of prevalence of HTLV-1 antibodies in blood donors in Delhi India by PAT and LIA method.

An investigation to evaluate the prevalence of HTLV-1 antibodies among blood donors in Delhi, India was carried out. The study was initiated with an objective to evaluate the higher prevalence of the condition reported by various Indian authors. Most of the reports were based on the screening through particle agglutination test (PAT) which has been documented to be high sensitive but less specific. A pilot study was undertaken to compare the prevalence of HTLV-1 by using the PAT as well as Line Immunoassay (LIA). The study included 119 HIV positive and 114 HIV negative sera obtained from Zonal Blood Testing Centre (ZBTC), Institute of Pathology (ICMR), Safdarjung Hospital Campus, New Delhi. The PAT positive samples were evaluated through Line Immunoassay. The results indicated that (a) in contrast to the number of reports, none of the HIV seronegative blood donors had anti-HTLV-1 antibodies tested by PAT, (b) 12 out of 119 (10%) HIV positive sera showed PAT positivity (Titre 1: 16). (c) None of the PAT positive sera showed antibodies to HTLV-I/II through LIA-(Line Immunoassay). The results of the study indicate that the reports on the higher prevalence of HTLV-1 in Indian blood donors may be due to adoption of highly sensitiv but less specific particle agglutination assay. The results also sugges that the status of HTLV-1 needs revalidation through the use of more specific assay like LIA in a larger number of samples.

Soroprevalência para retrovírus em uma amostra da população de Rio Branco (Acre) / Retroviridae seroprevalence in a sample of Rio Branco´s (Acre) population

Na cidade de Rio Branco (Acre), foram pesquisadas as amostras séricas de 390 pessoas sadias, de 2 a 79 anos de idade (26,5+/-14,9), usando métodos sorológicos (ELISA e Western blot específicos) para determinar a prevalência da infecção pelo HIV e/ou HTLV-I/II. Nenhuma pessoa foi soropositiva. Em conclusão, os dados sugerem a baixa transmissão na população sadia da cidade de Rio Branco, onde é elevada a freqüência de pessoas de origem indígena.

Pesquisaje de anticuerpos contra el virus linfotrópico de células T humanas tipo I (HTLV-I) en donantes de sangre y grupos de riesgo / Screening of antibodies against HTLV-I in blood donors and risk groups

Se estudió la presencia de anticuerpos contra el virus linfotrópico de células T humanas tipo I (HTLV I) en 3 774 sueros; de ellos, 1 409 eran donantes de sangre, 1 444 de pacientes que habían padecido recientemente alguna enfermedad de transmisión sexual (ETS) y 921 de enfermos politransfundidos. Se emplearon los sistemas DAVIH HTLV I (ELISA) y DAVIH BLOT HTLV 1 (Western Blot) producidos en Laboratorios DAVIH (La Habana, Cuba), para el pesquisaje y confirmación, respectivamente. De los 68 sueros reactivos en la prueba de ELISA, en 2 se confirmó la presencia de anticuerpos al HTLV I/II y 12 fueron considerados indeterminados por el Western Blot

Molecular approaches to the detection of agents in persistent viral infections.

Detection of infection with BBVs transmitted by the blood donated by apparently healthy volunteers is facilitated by several laboratory tests employed in screening out infected blood. Because several of the screening assays are immunological markers of host response to the infectious agents, the detection of viral nucleic acids remains a major goal that may possibly be fulfilled by the advent of PCR.