High prevalence of dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses in blood donors during a dengue outbreak and an endemic period in Colombia.

Objective: Arboviruses pose a challenge in ensuring the supply of pathogen-free blood components because they are not routinely screened in blood banks, and blood components from infected asymptomatic donors could be transfused. This study aimed to detect and characterize arboviral infections in Colombian blood donors.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study, the prevalence of dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), and chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses and co-infections of blood donors were compared between an epidemic period (November 2019-February 2020,  = 462) and an endemic period (November 2021-August 2022,  = 1,119).

The Crawford variant as a cause of RhD typing discrepancies in blood banks: A case report.

We present the case of a 55-year-old Colombian male who showed a discrepancy in the serological typing of the RhD antigen in his first platelet donation. The discrepancy persisted after a serological investigation with multiple Anti-D monoclonal reagents (IgG and IgM) under different conditions (22°C and 37°C, saline, and LISS/Coombs). Furthermore, partial RhD typing was performed, obtaining negative results with a commercially available panel of six Anti-D reagents.

Deferral due to low hemoglobin and predictors of permanence in the blood donation system of repeat female blood donors.

Objectives: To evaluate the deferral rate due to low hemoglobin (Hb) in repeat female blood donors and identify the factors affecting their permanence in the blood donation system.

Materials And Methods: 8,368 repeat female blood donors who donated from January 2012 to December 2018 were included. Bivariate analysis and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to identify the covariates possibly associated with developing low Hb, and Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to adjust for all confounders.

Percentages of CD4+CD8+ Double-positive T Lymphocytes in the Peripheral Blood of Adults from a Blood Bank in Bogotá, Colombia.

Objective: CD4+CD8+ double-positive T-cells (DPTs) have been classified as a separate T-cell subpopulation, with two main phenotypes: CD4 CD8 and CD4 CD8. In recent years, the relevance of DPTs in the pathogenesis of infections, tumors, and autoimmune diseases has been recognized. Reference values among healthy individuals remain unknown.

Intermediate Monocytes and Cytokine Production Associated With Severe Forms of Chagas Disease.

Monocytes are classified according to their CD14 and CD16 expression into classical (reparative), intermediate (inflammatory), and non-classical. This study assessed the frequency of monocyte and the relationship between monocyte subset percentages and the levels of blood cytokines in Colombian chagasic patients with different clinical forms. This study included chagasic patients in different clinical stages: indeterminate (IND) = 14, chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCC) = 14, and heart transplant chagasic (HTCC) = 9; controls with non-chagasic cardiopathy (NCC) = 15, and healthy individuals (HI) = 15.