Prevalence of HTLV-1/2 and other mandatory detections in a public setting of Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2003 to 2008

BERINI C; GENDLER S; PASCUCCIO S; EIRIN ME; MACFARLAND W; PAGE K; CARNEVALI L; MURPHY E; BIGLIONE M

Salvador de Bahia

Conferencia; 14th International Conference on Human Retrovirology: HTLV and related retroviruses.; 2009

International Society of Human Retrovirology

Prevalence of HTLV-1/2 and other mandatory detections in a public setting of Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2003 to 2008 Introduction: Contrary to the recommended model of recruitment of altruistic or community volunteer blood donations proposed by the World Health Organization, Argentina’s blood supply is mainly based on repository or replacement donations. At present, the detection of markers for HIV, HBV, HCV, T. cruzi, Brucella and T. pallidum is mandatory in blood banks in our country including HTLV-1/2 since December 2004. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of and trends in transfusion-related infectious diseases in a public setting of Buenos Aires City.  Materials and methods: Information on epidemiological characteristics of blood donors and serological tests performed by routine screening procedures and confirmation tests were available from donor records from January 2003 to December 2008 at “Juan A. Fernandez” Hospital Blood Bank. Results: A total of 28,483 blood donations were studied. Of them 7,442 (26.1%) were from females, 14,582 (51.2%) were younger than 35 years-old, and 23,746 (83.4%) were Argentine. The prevalence of EIA repeatedly-reactive samples was 0.8% for HTLV-1/2, 0.3% for HIV, 3.1% for HBV, 1.0% for HCV, 3.2% for T. cruzi, 0.3% for Brucella and 1.2% for T. pallidum. Out of 23,483, 25 samples were confirmed as HTLV-1/2 positive by WB yielding a final prevalence of 0.09%. There was a significant decrease in the prevalence of HBV and T. cruzi over time. The trend was consistent in male and female donors for HBV while for T. cruzi there was a decreasing tendency especially among men. Conclusion: These results confirm Buenos Aires as a non endemic area for HTLV-1/2 infection. While HBV prevalence was higher the prevalence of HIV, Brucella and T. pallidum was similar when compared to reports from the Ministry of Health among blood donors from this city. These data suggest that blood safety measures may be helping to reduce the risk of some transfusion related infections; however, more screening programs need to be effectively targeted to reduce transfusion transmitted infections.