Sero‐prevalence and viremia status of dengue virus among asymptomatic blood donors post epidemic outbreak in Chinese Guangzhou in 2015

Abstract

Dear Sir,Dengue virus (DENV) has been listed on a catalogue from the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) as transfusion transmissible infectious (TTIs) (Stramer et al., 2009). Routine screening for DENV RNA with nucleic acid testing (NAT) on donors' samples has been suggested to reduce the transfusion-transmitted risk of DENV in several countries and regions with high epidemic, such as Honduras (Linnen et al., 2008) and Brazil (Dias et al., 2012).In China, the third historically largest dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) outbreak spread throughout Guangdong province with 6024 confirmed DHF cases resulting in six deaths (Sun et al., 2016), as well as reported cases among 26 Chinese provinces (Lai et al., 2015) in 2014. The outbreak of DHF raised the increasing concern on DENV infection nationwide. However, the data on the DENV sero-prevalence and viremia status among blood donors were rare. A pilot investigation among asymptomatic donors in Guangzhou city (Guangdong province) during the epidemic outbreak (2014) reported that the anti-DENV IgM prevalence rate was 2·4% (n = 3000) (Rong et al., 2015), indicating a potential transfusion-transmitted risk. The sero-prevalence and viremia rate of DENV in blood donors from Guangzhou post the epidemic outbreak should be investigated.From April to October 2015, 1164 whole blood and apheresis donors who passed the routine pre-donation screening process were recruited during the routine donation process from the Guangzhou blood centre. Donor samples from the first 3 weeks of each month during the study period (n = 819) were selected and tested both for anti-DENV IgG and IgM using capture ELISA kits from Panbio (Brisbane, Australia), in which 34 were positive for IgG and three positive for IgM. The DENV seropositive rates were: IgG, 4·2% (34/819, 95%CI: 2·8-5·6%) and IgM, 0·4% (3/819, 95%CI: 0-0·8%). The demographic characteristics of 36 seropositive donors (one donor positive both for IgG and IgM) were similar to that of all the participated donors and no significant difference was found by gender, ethnicity and age. The DENV IgG rate was similar to the rate from donor samples collected in 2014 in the same area (3·4%, 51/1500) (Liao et al., 2017),

Dengue seroprevalence among asymptomatic blood donors during an epidemic outbreak in Central-West Brazil

“…The upper limit of the 95% CI demonstrated a maximum prevalence of DENV RNA of 0.63% (CI: 95%) if we had tested all donated blood for DENV RNA. Similarly, studies from other geographic locations demonstrated a prevalence of DENV RNA between 0.0 (China, Australia) [ 20 – 22 ] and 0.07% (Puerto Rico) [ 23 ]. In all cases, the detected prevalence of DENV RNA was lower than those of studies performed in Brazil [ 3 ] and Saudi Arabia (5.5%) [ 24 ].…”

“…During the next outbreak (2015), the prevalence of anti-DENV IgM declined to 0.4%. This decrease may have been a result of actions of the Chinese Center for Disease Control (CDC), which improved control and prevention strategies for DENV [ 20 ], but may also have been a result of lower circulation of DENV (non-epidemic year) or circulation of a different serotype. In contrast, a much lower seroprevalence was detected in Singapore (2.83%) and Australia (0.22%), regions in which DENV is endemic; however, they represent developed countries with a possible implementation of control measures to curb DENV outbreaks.…”

Dengue Virus and Blood Safety: A Mini-Review of Research Publications

“…65 Most of the investigations in the reviewed articles showed a high seroprevalence of dengue viral markers (IgM/IgG) among potential blood donors who were asymptomatic. [66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74] Therefore, it is essential to practice meticulous preventive techniques to ensure the safety of blood transfusions and to prevent the spread of the DENV in an endemic area. 75…”