Prevalence of Parvovirus B19 and Hepatitis A virus in Portuguese blood donors

Abstract Introduction In recent years, concern about the safety of blood in regard to the transmission of blood-borne viruses has been decreased. Safety has been achieved with a combination of different strategies, such as careful selection of donors, screening for relevant virological markers and viral inactivation/removal methods. More recently, the implementation of the nucleic acid amplification technologies for the detection of HIV-1, HCV and HBV, has increased safety by reducing the “window period” of the infections. Other viruses, such as Parvovirus B19 (PB19) and Hepatitis A virus (HAV), can cause problems for blood safety. These infections could provoke serious complications in some risk groups, such as pregnant women, patients with hematological problems, children and patients with immunodeficiencies. Materials and methods An observational study was performed to determine the prevalence of PB19 and HAV in Portuguese blood donors. We gathered, during four months, 5025 plasma donations and made them into 505 pools with no more than 10 donations each. The nucleic acids were isolated using MagNA Pure LC (Roche, Mannheim, Germany). A “Real Time PCR” (LightCycler, Roche) was used to perform the nucleic acid amplification and detection, using kits from the manufacturer. Results We found a prevalence of 0.12% for PB19 and 0% for HAV. Viraemia levels found in the positive donations range from 7.1 × 10 4 to 2.1 × 10 12  IU/ml. Discussion This study demonstrates the possibility of performing these tests in routine blood banks. We found a similar prevalence of PB19 when compared with other European and USA countries. In the case of HAV, we predict a maximum risk of 0.06% for a donor to be infected. It is necessary to perform other studies, including cost/benefit analysis to evaluate the risks and profits of implementing these methodologies in Transfusion Medicine.