A single window-period donation detected by human immunodeficiency virus p24 antigen after 5 years of routine screening in a group of Brazilian blood banks.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article was to describe the experience of screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) p24 antigen (p24Ag) in blood donors, in four Brazilian Blood Banks, and to report the detection of the first window-period donation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During 61 months (May 96 to June 01), 103 470 consecutive donations were screened for HIV p24Ag using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Testing was carried out in accordance with the instructions supplied with the kits. RESULTS: Fifty-eight repeatedly reactive samples were identified [0.056% of the total; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.042-0.070]. Ten of the 58 were confirmed as p24Ag positive after neutralization (0.010%; 95% CI: 0.004-0.016), nine of the 10 (0.009%; 95% CI: 0.003-0.014) were also HIV antibody positive and only one (0.001%; 95% CI: 0-0.003) was HIV antibody negative. CONCLUSIONS: In this setting the rate of sole p24Ag-positive donations was one in 103 740. This figure corresponds closely with the previously estimated yield of one in 87 796 donations. The yield of HIV p24Ag+ : Ab- has been previously estimated in our centres to be 1 : 87 796 donations, a value similar to that observed in actual practice.

[Anti-BHc determination in blood donors in São Paulo: should this test be adopted in Brazil?]. / Pesquisa de anti-HBc em doadores de sangue em São Paulo: deverá esse teste ser adotado pelo Brasil?

PURPOSE: to study the incidence of anti-HBc (core) as a surrogate marker for post-transfusion Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis (HNANB-PT) among blood donors in São Paulo, Brazil. TYPE: prospective, screening all blood donors from September to December, 1989 (nr. 2,773 donors). PLACE: Sírio-Libanês Hospital and 9 de Julho Hospital (São Paulo). PATIENTS: a total of 2,773 donors, 84% male and 16% female. METHOD: the tests used were competitive ELISA for Anti-HBc. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: the repeated rah reactivity (RR) was 10.2% among all donors, with a higher incidence in males than in females (10.9% x 6.8% p less than 0.05 6y X2). Only 4.5% were borderlines, and 94.5% showed an absorbance/cut-off ratio less than 0.9. CONCLUSIONS: despite the lack of prospective studies correlating HNANB-PT to surrogate markers (e.g. ALT and anti-HBc) in this country, the high incidence of anti-HBc in donors allows to conclude that it might be as high as reported in other countries. Although the costs related to the adoption of this test, its indication in other countries and its association with the newly-developed specific test (anti-HCV) supports the idea of anti-HBc as a screening test for HNANB-PT in Brazil, at least in the most developed blood centers in the country.