Background: Millions of lives around the world are being saved annually through blood transfusion. However, blood transfusion is among the essential vehicles for transmitting infections. The overall prevalence of Transfusion Transmissible Infections among blood donors differs around the world, reflecting the variation in the prevalence of these infections. This study aims to assess the prevalence and trends of Transfusion Transmissible Infections among blood donors in Qatar. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study utilizing donation records of 5 years from January 2013 to December 2017. We included in the study results for all screening and confirmatory tests for Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, Human T-lymphotropic Virus-I/II, Syphilis and Malaria. Results: Among the 190,509 donations received at the donation centre during the study period, about 91% of donations were received from males and 9% from females. The overall positivity rate for all tests was 1.87, 2.23, 1.78, 2.31, 2.67% for the years 2013 through 2017, with an increasing yearly trend by 6% each year.

MERS-COV is an emerging zoonotic disease primarily originated in Arabian Peninsula, where camel industry and trade are part of the local culture and economy. Camels were proposed to be the possible reservoir. A convenient sample of 78 camel owners were interviewed through a structured questionnaire to assess their risk perception and practices. All were males, mean age of 42.5 ± 12.7 years. Most of camel owners were Qatari (94.9%), working with camels for 10 years or more (85.8%). Most of the owners are aware about the disease (93.6%), mostly from T.V (75.6%). However, only 37% of them know that the disease can be transmitted from camel to human or from human to human. The majority of owners (79.5%) had low to moderate knowledge score regarding MERS-COV. More than half of them had low perceived susceptibility to catch the disease. Perceived reasons for susceptibility were being in close contact with camels (82.2%) or exposure to camel products (76.7%). The majority (74%) feel to be protected from the disease, mostly because their farms are clean (78.1) or due to long history of working with camels without catching disease (69.9%). More than half of owners (54.8%) had high perceived severity score, and thought it can lead to hospitalization (86.3%) or death (69.9%). The most perceived protective measures were washing hands with soap and water (84.9%) and keeping away from sick people (78.1%). The most perceived barriers to using protective measures were being unavailable (56.2%), or unpractical (43.8%). Sixty percent of owners have high self -efficacy score, however, very low percentages were using protective measures (4–12%). Health education sessions should be conducted to camel owners in Qatar to increase their awareness and risk perception about MERS-COV.

Background: Millions of lives around the world are being saved annually through blood transfusion. However, blood transfusion is among the important vehicles for transmitting infections. The overall prevalence of Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTIs) among blood donors differs around the world, reflecting the variation in the prevalence of these infections. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and trends of TTIs among blood donors in Qatar. Methods: This is a cross sectional study utilizing donation records of a five-year period from January 2013 to December 2017. Results for all screening and confirmatory tests for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), Human T-Lymphotropic Virus-I/II (HTLV-I/II), Syphilis and Malaria were included in the study. Results: Among the 190,509 donations received at the donation center during the study period, about 91% donations were received from males and 9% from females. The overall positivity rate for all tests were 1.95, 2.18, 1.62, 1.81 and 1.85 for the years 2013 through 2017. The overall positivity rates for HBV, Syphilis and Malaria were 0.30, 0.43 and 0.20, respectively. Throughout the years, the positivity rates decreased for HBV, Syphilis and Malaria and increased for HCV and HTLV. Conclusion: The overall positivity rate of all tests combined for the TTIs demonstrated a gradual increasing trend from 2013 to 2017. The rates for HCV and HTLV showed increasing trends too. To support developing effective prevention and control strategies, further investigations are needed to improve the estimations of the prevalence of these infections.

Introduction: Successful recruitment of participants into clinical research has always been challenging and is affected by many factors. This systematic review aimed to explore the perceptions and attitudes as well as identify the factors affecting the participation in clinical research among the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office countries’ population. Methods: A systematic search of the literature was conducted to explore attitudes or perceptions of the general public or patients towards participation in clinical research. PubMed, Pro-Quest Central, World Health Organizations Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and Google Scholar were searched. Studies were considered eligible for inclusion if they presented primary data and were conducted in one of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office countries. A data extraction sheet was used to record the following: year, country, aim, population, sample size, study design, data collection, and setting. The identified factors from the included studies were categorized into motivators and barriers. Results: In total, 23 original research articles were identified that addressed perceptions or attitudes towards clinical research participation. Six main motivators and barriers of research participation among patients, the general public, and patient family members were identified. The most common cited motivators included personal benefits to the individual, altruism and the desire to help others, the research process, the influence of the physician, family encouragement, and religion. Concerns regarding safety, confidentiality, and other factors in addition to the research process, lack of trust in healthcare providers or healthcare system, lack of interest in research and no perceived personal benefit, religious concerns, and family/cultural concerns were the most cited barriers to participation. Conclusion: The identified motivators and barriers are essential to tackle during clinical research planning among the population of Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office countries. Further research is needed to assess the attitudes and perceptions of individuals approached to participate in trials.