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Blood safety strategies for human T‐cell lymphotropic virus in Europe
Author(s) -
Laperche S.,
Worms B.,
Pillonel J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
vox sanguinis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.68
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1423-0410
pISSN - 0042-9007
DOI - 10.1111/j.1423-0410.2008.01136.x
Subject(s) - medicine , transmission (telecommunications) , human t lymphotropic virus , blood transfusion , human t lymphotropic virus 1 , blood donations , public health , virology , immunology , virus , environmental health , nursing , engineering , psychiatry , myelopathy , t cell leukemia , spinal cord , electrical engineering
Background To prevent the blood transmission of human T‐cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV), different countries have introduced anti‐HTLV blood screening. Furthermore, leucoreduction of blood components has been implemented to preclude the transmission of infectious agents present in white blood cells. Study Design and Methods To evaluate the current European strategies adopted to ensure the blood safety for HTLV, a European investigation spanning a period from 2003 to 2008 was carried out. Results In 2003, of the 23 included countries, 11 performed anti‐HTLV screening, four of which (Scandinavian countries) only did it on first‐time donors. Norway and Finland stopped it in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Two groups may be defined according to increasing prevalence rates per 10 000 donations in first‐time donors: Scandinavia and Ireland (0 to 0·17), France, the Netherlands and UK (0·45 to 0·48); Romania was clearly apart from all other participating countries (5·33). HTLV‐positive donors (88·6%) either come from endemic areas (82·3%) or declare to have a sexual partner coming from endemic areas (6·3%). Of the 283 HTLV‐positive donations that could be characterized, 6·6% were HTLV‐II. Fourteen of 22 countries currently use systematic leucoreduction, at least in cellular blood components. Six countries perform both universal anti‐HTLV screening and blood cell leucoreduction. Conclusion The implementation of leucoreduction did not modify the blood HTLV‐screening policy, except for Norway and Finland. Several screening strategies in low endemic countries performing leucoreduction were discussed. However, the withdrawal of anti‐HTLV screening should be decided after assessing the remaining HTLV transfusion risk.