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Hepatitis E virus in S cottish blood donors
Author(s) -
Cleland A.,
Smith L.,
Crossan C.,
Blatchford O.,
Dalton H. R.,
Scobie L.,
Petrik J.
Publication year - 2013
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/vox.12056
Subject(s) - hepatitis e virus , virology , seroprevalence , genotype , transmission (telecommunications) , hepatitis e , virus , blood transfusion , biology , hepatitis c virus , medicine , immunology , antibody , serology , gene , genetics , electrical engineering , engineering
Background and Objectives Published prevalence figures for hepatitis E virus ( HEV ) reveal significant regional differences. Several studies have reported virus transmission via blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to establish HEV seroprevalence and investigate a potential HEV RNA presence in S cottish blood donors. Materials and Methods I g G and I g M were determined in individual serum samples. HEV RNA was investigated in plasma mini‐pools corresponding to 43 560 individual donations using nested PCR . Samples amenable to reamplification with primers from a different region were considered confirmed positives, sequenced and analysed. Results A total of 73 of 1559 tested individual sera (4·7%) were I g G positive, none tested positive for I g M . Plasma mini‐pool testing revealed an HEV RNA frequency of 1 in 14 520 donations. Three confirmed positives belonged, as expected to genotype 3. Conclusions HEV I g G and RNA figures in Scottish blood donors are lower than those published for the rest of the UK , but sufficiently high to prompt further studies on potential transmission rates and effects of HEV infection, especially for immunosuppressed individuals.