Incidence of viral markers and evaluation of the estimated risk in the Swiss blood donor population from 1996 to 2003

Abstract

Among the well known transfusion-associated risks, the transmission of pathogenic viruses is regarded as one of the most serious. Over the past two decades, a series of overlapping safety procedures have been successively implemented to minimise this risk. It is now generally considered that the risk of transmitting viral infections via blood products is very low in developed countries. The present study analyses the incidence of the key infectious diseases HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) between 1996 and 2003 from 99% of voluntary repeat blood donors visiting the blood transfusion service of the Swiss Red Cross. Furthermore the estimated risk of these viral markers was calculated. From 1996 to 2003 the incidence rate for HCV decreased continuously, whereas no significant decrease in the incidence rate of HIV and HBV was observed. From 2001 to 2003, the last calculated period, the residual risk was estimated to be 1 in 1 900 000 for HIV, 1 in 2 200 0000 for HCV and 1 in 115 000 for HBV, respectively. This agrees with international studies, which have been shown that the estimated residual risk for HBV between 1996 and 2003 is higher than that of HCV and HIV.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Motivations Among Blood Donors in São Paulo, Brazil

“…Despite overall reductions in transmissible disease risk in Brazil due to laboratory testing (Barreto et al 2005;Goncalez et al 2003), safe blood donor recruitment remains complex and challenging. Research to understand motivations for blood donation has the potential to yield better qualified blood donors, increasing the blood supply and reducing the risk of transfusion-transmitted disease (Glynn et al 2000;Likatavicius et al 2007;Niederhauser et al 2005;Soldan et al 2003;Soldan et al 2005). Based on the above premises, we examined a variety of factors related to knowledge, attitudes, and motivations that may contribute to better understand the major reasons that lead risky and less risky persons to donate blood.…”

“…One part of these policies is aimed at establishing a large pool of regular, repeat blood donors at low risk for HIV and other transfusion-transmissible infections. In many settings around the world, regular repeat donors are found to have lower prevalence of infectious agents compared to first-time or once-only donors (Glynn et al 2000;Likatavicius et al 2007;Niederhauser et al 2005;Soldan et al 2003;Soldan et al 2005).…”

Surveillance and epidemiology of hepatitis B and C in Europe – a review

“…There is evidence, at least from Denmark and the Netherlands, that the number of HBV infections transmitted by sexual contact has recently been increasing [32,33] but injecting drug use is a major mode of transmission in many countries [32,34]. In the past, HBV was frequently transmitted via blood transfusion, but due to improved testing of blood donors the estimated residual risk of acquiring HBV infection ranges from 1 to 10 per million transfusions in Europe [35][36][37][38][39]. The transmission of HBV infection may also occur through needle stick injuries, which is why health care workers can be at higher risk of getting the HBV infection.…”

“…The implementation of effective virus inactivation procedures and of anti-HCV testing methods in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as the recent introduction of HCV RNA tests significantly improved the safety of blood products [44]. The estimated residual risk for acquiring HCV via blood products ranges from 1 to 40 per 10 million transfusions in Europe [35][36][37][38][39].…”

Residual Risk of Hepatitis-B-Infected Blood Donations: Estimation Methods and Perspectives

“…The Swiss blood bank estimates 1 : 115.000 for the HBV residual risk in the first years of the 2000 decade were relatively high [30]. Although adding anti-HBc to routine HBsAg testing was thought to be cost-effective, with low deferral (<2%) of noninfectious donors [31], HBV ID NAT screening was introduced and showed the yield of 1 : 200.000, with OBI yield of 1 : 61.000 and HBsAg preseroconversion windowperiod risk of 1 : 153.000 [32].…”