Background and ObjectiveThe improved performance of serological tests has significantly reduced the risk of human immunodeficiency and hepatitis B and C viruses transmission by blood transfusion, but there is a persistence of residual risk. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of multiplex PCR in reducing the risk of residual transmission of these viruses in seronegative blood donors in Burkina Faso.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted from March to September 2017. The serological tests were performed on sera using ARCHITECTSR i1000 (Abbot diagnosis, USA). Detection of viral nucleic acids was performed by multiplex PCR on mini-pools of seronegative plasma for HBV, HCV and HIV using SaCycler-96 Real Time PCR v.7.3 (Sacace Biotechnologies). Multiplex PCR-positive samples from these mini-pools were then individually tested by the same method.ResultsA total of 989 donors aged 17 to 65 were included in the present study. “Repeat donors” accounted for 44.79% (443/989). Seroprevalences for HIV, HBV, and HCV were 2.53% (25/989), 7.28% (72/989) and 2.73% (27/989), respectively. Of the 14 co-infections detected, HBV/HCV was the most common with 0.71% (7/989) of cases. Of 808 donations tested by multiplex PCR, 4.70% (38/808) were positive for HBV while no donation was positive for HIV or HCV.ConclusionOur study showed a high residual risk of HBV transmission through blood transfusion. Due to the high prevalence of blood-borne infections in Burkina Faso, we recommend the addition of multiplex PCR to serologic tests for optimal blood donation screening.

Introduction: The risk of transmission of pathogens such as hepatitis B virus threatens the safety of transfused patients especially in high endemic areas. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and factors associated with hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) seroconversion in blood donors at the Regional Blood Transfusion Centre of Ouagadougou. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of voluntary non-remunerated blood donors (VNRBD), was conducted from 2008 to 2017. Data on HBsAg seroconversion were collected. The Kaplan-Meier method and the Log-Rank test were used to estimate the survival curves. Cox's regression identified the factors associated with this seroconversion. Results: Of 23,494 donors, 559 had HBsAg seroconversion. The number of donor years was 58,637.50 and the HBV incidence rate was 9.53 per 1000 donor years. The median seroconversion time was 75.73 months with extremes of 2.7 months and 107.12 months. The risk of seroconversion was 1.30 times higher among donors aged 21 to 24 years old (p = 0.007) and 2.49 times higher among those over 24 years old (p < 0.0001) than among donors under 21 years old. Female donors were 1.11 times more likely to seroconvert than male donors (p = 0.33). Donor residence was not significantly associated with HBsAg seroconversion