Children with chronic HCV infection are generally asymptomatic. By 13 years after infection, 12% of patients had significant fibrosis. Patients enrolled by referral had more severe liver disease than those identified through the look-back program, demonstrating the importance of selection bias in assessing the long-term outcome of HCV infection.

BACKGROUND Extremely high viremic levels of parvovirus B19 (B19V) can be found in acutely infected, but asymptomatic donors. However, reports of transmission by single-donor blood components are rare. In this prospective study, paired donor-recipient samples were used to investigate the transfusion risk. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS Posttransfusion plasma or blood samples from recipients were tested for B19V DNA by polymerase chain reaction, generally at 4 and 8 weeks, and for anti-B19V immunoglobulin (Ig)G by enzyme immunoassay, at 12 and 24 weeks. To rule out infection unrelated to transfusion, pretransfusion samples and linked donor’s samples for each B19V DNA–positive recipient were assayed for B19V DNA and anti-B19V IgG and IgM. To confirm transmission, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed. RESULTS A total of 14 of 869 (1.6%) recipients were B19V DNA positive, but only 1 of 869 (0.12%; 95% confidence interval, 0.0029%–0.6409%) was negative for B19V DNA and anti-B19V IgG before transfusion and seroconverted posttransfusion. This newly infected patient received 5 × 1010 IU B19V DNA in one red blood cell (RBC) unit from an acutely infected anti-B19V– negative donor in addition to RBCs from three other donors that cumulatively contained 1320 IU of anti-B19V IgG. DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that sequences from the linked donor and recipient were identical (Genotype 1), thus establishing transfusion transmission. CONCLUSIONS The 0.12% transmission rate documented here, although low, could nonetheless result in hundreds or thousands of infections annually in the United States based on calculated confidence limits. Although most would be asymptomatic, some could have severe clinical outcomes, especially in neonates and those with immunocompromised or hemolytic states.

BACKGROUND Transfusion-associated microchimerism (TA-MC), the persistence of significant levels of donor leukocytes in blood recipients for prolonged periods, has been demonstrated following non-leukoreduced and leukoreduced transfusion to patients with severe traumatic injury. Development of TA-MC has not been rigorously studied in settings that do not involve massive trauma where the blood is leukoreduced and irradiated. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS A cohort of 409 prospectively followed medical and surgical adult and pediatric female recipients of leukoreduced and mostly irradiated allogeneic red blood cell and platelet transfusions were evaluated to determine development of TA-MC. Four and eight-week post-transfusion samples were analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for Y-chromosome sequences in leukocyte DNA, the marker for microchimeric cells in female blood recipients. Repeat testing was performed on Y-chromosome positive samples to confirm microchimerism (MC), and subsequent post-transfusion samples were tested to investigate persistence of MC. RESULTS On initial testing, forty of 207 (19%) adult and forty-four of 202 (22%) pediatric female blood recipients demonstrated low level MC. On repeat testing of these and additional specimens, twelve (3%) recipients demonstrated low level transient MC, but none had persistent TA-MC similar to that seen in transfused trauma patients. CONCLUSION Persistence of MC was not demonstrated in adult and pediatric recipients of leukoreduced and mostly irradiated blood components. The risk of TA-MC appears to be dependent on the clinical setting and is rare other than in patients sustaining severe traumatic injury.