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Usually transmitted via respiratory droplets, parvovirus B19 (B19V) can also be acquired by blood transfusion especially because of viral persistence, resistance to blood treatment procedures, and high viral load during the early infection phase. This is particularly problematic in immunocompromised or anemic patients where the infection can have a severe outcome. As B19V DNA was detected in blood donations from South Brazil during a viral metagenomic survey performed by Next-Generation Sequencing, the objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the seroprevalence, B19V DNA presence and circulating genotypes in a Hospital Blood Transfusion Service in Santa Maria city in South Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul state). Among 480 volunteer blood donors, 53.9% (n = 258 of 479) were anti-B19V IgGpositive, and 9 (1.9%) plasma samples presented B19V DNA. In almost all cases (n = 7 of 9, 77.8%), B19V DNA load was accompanied by the presence of anti-B19V IgG suggesting a persistent infection. The sequencing of the strains demonstrated that all belong to genotype 1 which is the most prevalent worldwide. The analysis of the recipient information of the positive for B19V DNA units revealed no related posttransfusion adverse effects. Our results demonstrate for the first time, B19V seroprevalence, viral load, and genotypes among blood donors from South Brazil and give a light for the circulation and impact of this B19V in this part of the country. K E Y W O R D S blood donors, genotypes, parvovirus B19, real-time polymerase chain reaction, seroprevalence J Med Virol. 2019;91:1224-1231. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jmv 1224 |

Treatment for acute myeloid leukemia in Brazil shows significantly inferior results when compared to other centers worldwide.

Background and objectives Zika virus is a flavivirus transmitted by Aedes mosquitos. A discussed transmission route is by blood transfusion due to the large number of ZIKV asymptomatic cases. The objective of the study was to estimate the ZIKV IgG seroprevalence and RNA presence in blood donors from a Hemotherapy Service in Southern Brazil due to the fact that until the end of 2016, 851 ZIKV suspected cases, 51.2% of which were with autochthons transmission were reported in this Brazilian region. Materials and methods Five hundred blood samples were collected from blood donors between 5 December 2016 and 6 January 2017 in the Hemotherapy Service of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. All samples were tested for the presence of ZIKV RNA by the use of TaqMan® real‐time PCR and 182 of these were serologically assessed for ZIKV IgG. Results No samples showed positive results for ZIKV RNA. However, the serological survey detected one positive sample for ZIKV IgG and four samples with optical density values in the grey zone (consequently three of them confirmed as Dengue IgG‐positive). This indicates a 0.55% seroprevalence of ZIKV IgG among volunteer blood donors in the city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that although the transfusion risk of ZIKV in the south part of the country can be currently considered as low, further outbreaks cannot be excluded due to lack of herd immunity to ZIKV. Our study adds to the national and global prevalence of ZIKV among blood donors and its implications for the transfusion safety.

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