Risk of Zika virus transmission by blood donations in Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundZika, a disease caused by Zika virus infections, has recently emerged and caused outbreaks in many parts of the world. The clinical manifestations of Zika are usually mild, mostly presenting as an exanthematic febrile disease, but on some occasions, it might be associated with microcephaly after intrauterine infection, and Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Zika virus is primarily transmitted by mosquito bites, but other means of transmission have been described, and potential risk for blood transmission has been reported in French Polynesia and Brazil.MethodsTo investigate the risk of Zika virus infection after a blood transfusion in an area of Brazil where a possible transmission by a platelet concentrate has been described. Using a mini-pool format, 1857 blood donations were evaluated by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction designed to detect Zika virus RNA.ResultsAfter testing samples individually from positive mini-pools, the prevalence of Zika virus RNA was only 0.16%, a result probably associated to the low circulation of this virus in the study area. In addition, it was evident that the implementation of post-surveillance programs is important to detect Zika virus infections in blood donors, as the post-donation surveillance program detected two blood donors with the disease in this study.ConclusionThis study shows that the risk for Zika virus transmission by blood transfusion is real, even in regions with a low circulation of the disease, but the combination of the detection of Zika virus RNA by polymerase chain reaction and post-donation surveillance might reduce the risk of transmission by blood transfusions.

Epidemic potential of Zika virus in Australia: implications for blood transfusion safety

“…Most recently, Zika virus (ZIKV) has been shown to have potential for TT. Transmission of ZIKV through platelet transfusion has been reported in Brazil, and a number of countries have detected ZIKV‐positive blood donations …”

Zika virus RNA surveillance in blood donors in the Federal District of Brazil during the 2016 outbreak

“…We adopted as a true estimated ZIKV prevalence the mean prevalence obtained from four previous studies examining ZIKV infection in Brazilian blood donors (0.71 %). 5 , 7 , 8 , 9 The minimum sample size calculated to be tested for estimation of the ZIKV prevalence in blood donors was 269 donations; however, we tested a higher number of samples (475 blood donations).…”

Harringtonine Inhibits Zika Virus Infection through Multiple Mechanisms

“…The spread of ZIKV has caused a global health concern. In addition to transmission by infected mosquitoes, ZIKV can also be transmitted by intrauterine transmission, sexual transmission, and blood transfusion [ 6 , 7 ]. Approximately 80% of infected people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic with a short-lived fever, skin rash, muscle and joint pain, conjunctivitis, and headache [ 8 ].…”