Advancing blood transfusion safety using molecular detection in the country of Georgia

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Transfus Clin Biol
• Personal Author:
  Alkhazashvili, Maia ; Bloch, Evan M. ; Shadaker, Shaun ; Kuchuloria, Tinatin ; Getia, Vladimer ; Turdziladze, Alexander ; Armstrong, Paige A. ; Gamkrelidze, Amiran
• Description:
  Background: ; In 2015, the country of Georgia initiated its hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination program. Given a high background incidence of HCV infection, centralized nucleic acid testing (NAT) of blood donations was prioritized for implementation. ; Study design and methods: ; Multiplex NAT screening for HIV, HCV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) was launched in January 2020. An analysis was conducted of serological and NAT donor/donation data for the first year of screening (through December 2020). ; Results: ; A total of 54,116 donations representing 39,164 unique donors were evaluated. Overall, 671 donors (1.7%) tested positive for at least one infectious marker by serology or NAT, with the highest prevalence among donors aged 40–49 years (2.5%; n = 200), male (1.9%; n = 524), replacement (2.8%; n = 153) and first time (2.1%; n = 642) donors. Sixty donations were seronegative but NAT positive, and therefore would not have been found by traditional serology testing alone. These were more likely among female vs. male (adjusted odds ratio aOR 2.06; 95% confidence interval 95%CI: 1.05–4.05), paid (aOR 10.15; 95%CI: 2.80–36.86) or voluntary (aOR 4.30; 95%CI: 1.27–14.56) vs replacement, and repeat vs. first time (aOR 13.98; 95%CI: 4.06–48.12) donors. On repeat serological testing (including HBV core antibody HBcAb testing), 6 HBV + donations, 5 HCV + donations and 1 HIV + donations were deemed NAT yield (detected through the implementation of NAT, and would have otherwise been missed by serology screening alone). ; Conclusion: ; This analysis offers a regional model for NAT implementation, demonstrating the feasibility and clinical utility in a nationwide blood program.
• Subjects:
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Blood Donors
  • Blood Safety
  • Blood Transfusion
  • Hepacivirus
  • Hepatitis B
  • Hepatitis B Antibodies
  • Hepatitis B virus
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Hepatitis C
  • Blood donor
  • Screening
  • Blood transfusion
  • Public health
  • Georgia (Country)
• Source:
  Transfus Clin Biol. 30(3):307-313
• Pubmed ID:
  36907246
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10958484
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; K23 HL151826/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  30
• Issue:
  3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/153484/cdc_153484_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 283.30 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f28bb12817da54409921548d95567db533a7c5ede3e6a9932e7b46ff0f893383e3ce624400396d79177b2d5edf2b391e718e3532472e3cc06fb67f68d22f58df