Evaluation of blood donors questionnaire in a developing country: The case of Gabon

BackgroundBlood transfusion is a life-saving therapeutic act without alternative. Each blood transfusion carries the risk of blood-borne pathogens transmission. The present study, is the first establishing the usefulness of blood donors screening questionnaire in the setting of the Gabonese National Blood Transfusion Center.Study designNine hundred and thirty-four blood donors aged between 18 and 48 years old were initially enrolled and submitted to physical examination (body-mass index and blood pressure). After physical examination 854 donors were judged fit for blood donation and were randomly distributed in two groups. The first group of donors did not take the screening questionnaire; whereas the second group went through the screening questionnaire. Both groups were then tested for human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis.ResultsData revealed a seroprevalence among the donors of 2.5%, 2.5%, 1.1%, and 3.3% for the human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis markers respectively. In the Gabonese setting, blood donors’ screening questionnaire reduced respectively by 0.6%, 0.35% and 1.3% the proportion of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and treponema pallidum seroreactive donors being selected for donation. The questionnaire had no positive effect on discriminating human immunodeficiency virus positive donors.ConclusionBlood donors’ seroprevalence of blood-borne pathogens is relatively important in our setting. Blood donors’ screening questionnaire reduced the proportion of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis seropositive blood donors. The questionnaire did not effectively discriminate human immunodeficiency virus-infected donor candidates.     

绍兴市无偿献血者中隐匿性HBV感染的基因型别及突变类型分析

目的 了解绍兴市无偿献血者隐匿性乙肝病毒感染情况及病毒的分子生物学特征.方法 应用ELISA的方法对绍兴市中心血站8692例无偿献血者进行筛查,对HBsAg阴性标本进行HBV DNA检测,从而检出隐匿性乙肝病毒感染者,再对阳性标本进行序列分析和氨基酸突变分析,从而了解绍兴市无偿献血者隐匿性乙肝病毒感染情况和病毒分子生物学特征,探讨隐匿性乙肝病毒感染的可能机制.结果 在总共8692例无偿献血者标本中,共计H BsAg（-）8644例,在8644例HBsAg（-）标本中,有8例HBV DNA阳性,隐匿性HBV感染比例为0.92‰（8/8692）,其中基因C型6例（75％）,基因B型2例（25％）;氨基酸突变分析显示有7株OBI病毒株在“a”表位发生特异性突变.结论 绍兴市无偿献血者中存在一定比例隐匿性乙肝病毒感染,隐匿性乙肝病毒感染与病毒基因突变有相关性.     

Understanding the underlying motives and intention among Indian blood donors towards voluntary blood donation: A cross-sectional study

Objectives

The present study aims to fill the gap in the literature by conducting a comprehensive research on Indian donor's intention towards voluntary blood donation in India. The study attempts to conceptualize and validate an integrative framework incorporating voluntary function inventory (VFI) in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model with the purpose tomeasure the voluntary blood donation intention.

广州无偿献血人群中丙型肝炎抗体阳性者HCV基因型与病毒载量的关系

目的:了解最新广州地区无偿献血人群丙型肝炎病毒(HCV)基因型与病毒载量的关联性。方法:收集2008～2011年广州地区无偿献血人群中抗-HCV阳性标本605份,采用荧光定量PCR(Q-PCR)的方法对其进行核酸及病毒载量检测,阳性标本作NS5B基因扩增;核苷酸序列测定后运用DNASTAR、BioEdit和Mega4.0等软件作序列分析和基因分型,采用SPSS16.0软件对病毒载量与基因型(亚型)的关联性进行分析。结果:337份HCV RNA阳性的标本扩增出NS5B基因320份,HCV 1b、6a、3a、2a、3b、1a、6n比例依次为45.00%、33.44%、8.75%、7.81%、4.38%、0.31%和0.31%。HCV1b与2a、3a、6a、6a与2a、3a之间病毒载量存在显著差异:HCVba病毒载量高于2a、3a和6a,HCV6a病毒载量高于2a和3a。结论:广州地区无偿献血人群中HCV1b和6a为主要亚型且其病毒载量高于其他亚型。     

Magnitude and trend of HIV and Treponema pallidum infections among blood donors in Offinso-North District,Ghana: a nine-year retrospective,cross-sectional study

IntroductionBlood transfusion poses a high public health risk to recipients; hence no effort recommended to eradicate or minimize the danger of transmitting the infections.Reproductive Biology should be underestimated at minimizing the risk of TTIs. This study determined the prevalence and trend of HIV and syphilis infections in voluntary blood donors.MethodA retrospective analysis of secondary data from consecutive prospective voluntary blood donors who accessed Nkenkaasu District Hospital''s Blood Bank from January 2010 to December 2018 was conducted.ResultCumulatively, HIV and Treponema pallidum seropositivity identified in the present study was high (19.1%, [95% C.I (0.026–0.028)]). The prevalence of HIV and syphilis infections were 10.9% (95% C.I (0.098–0.120)) and 8.9% (95% C.I (0.073–0.92)) respectively. Prospective female blood donors were less likely to test positive for T. pallidum than males (OR 0.511, [0.340 – 0.769], p=0.001), but the infection was similar among different ages. The data showed downward trend for both HIV and T. pallidum seropositivity, (slope=-2.9467, p<0.0001) and (slope=-0.7117, p<0.0001) respectively.ConclusionSeroprevalence of HIV and Treponema pallidum were high, and their individual or combined seropositivity pose a significant threat to the safety of blood. Extensive and continuous screening for high-risk behaviours and infectious markers before blood donation is therefore Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, College of Medicine, Pan African University of Life and Earth Sciences Institute (PAULESI), University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.     

Incidence and risk predictors analysis of adverse donor reactions in whole blood donation

ObjectiveAdverse donor reactions in normal healthy blood donors is not unusual. However, these unpleasant effects have a negative impact on donor retention. Adverse event due to blood donation is multifactorial in origin. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the frequency and type of adverse donor reactions during or after blood donation. More importantly, this study also aimed at analyzing important risk predictors of adverse donor reaction.Material and methodsThis was a retrospective study conducted from May 2017 to April 2019 in the department of Transfusion Medicine at a tertiary care center in eastern India. Data were stored in Microsoft excel 2016 by using a standardized format as per ISBT criteria and analyzed with software “R, version 3.5.3” to find out the various independent precipitating factor.ResultsOverall, 107 donors (0.98%) experienced adverse events with 10,814 whole blood donations. The first time, females, younger age donors (18–30 years), and donors with a mean arterial blood pressure of less than 90 mm of Hg were the most important independent risk factors predicting the possibility of adverse donor reaction. Donors’ weight, hemoglobin, and the type of donation had not affected the frequency of adverse events.ConclusionAnalysis of adverse donor reactions helps in selecting the blood donors who are at risk of donor reactions. Our study highlights the importance of proper predonation screening especially in terms of assessment of mean blood pressure, along with identification of first time and female blood donors in order to reduce untoward donor reaction.     

Epidemiological aspects and molecular characterization of the hepatitis B virus among blood donors in Lubumbashi,Democratic Republic of Congo

ObjectivesThe strains of HBV circulating among blood donors in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are not yet characterized. The purpose of this study was to determine seroprevalence, changes in biochemical parameters during HBV infection and molecular characterization of HBV in blood donors in Lubumbashi.MethodsThe detection of HBsAg was carried out by rapid diagnostic test then confirmed by the Liaison XL® Quant HBsAg technique. PCR targeting the P gene was carried out on LightCycler® 96 and genotyping by the sequencing technique on ABI 3500.ResultsThe seroprevalence was 7.9%. The genotypes E (53.1%), A (41.8%), A3/E (3.8%), A1/E (1.3%) and some drug resistance mutations were identified. Disturbances of HDL-cholesterol, direct bilirubin, transaminases (ASAT and ALAT), PAL, GGT and albumin have been observed in HBsAg positive blood donors.ConclusionThe results of our study indicated that Lubumbashi is in a region with high endemicity for HBV and report for the first time HBV of genotypes A, E, A1/E and A3/E. They highlight the need to implement strategies to improve transfusion safety in blood transfusion centers and hospital blood banks in Lubumbashi in order to reduce HBV infection in recipients. They could also contribute to the implementation of treatment strategies and the development of mapping of circulating HBV genotypes in the DRC.