Publications by authors named "B S CUSTER"
Background: Increasing syphilis infection rates are a concerning issue worldwide. Blood donation screening is an opportunity to monitor the burden of asymptomatic infections, providing information on contemporary factors associated with infection and public health insights into transmission.
Methods: Blood donations collected at five Brazilian blood centers between January 2020 and February 2022 were screened with treponemal or non-treponemal assays according to local protocols, followed by alternate Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA); samples with reactive or indeterminate results in the alternate ELISA were further tested with the rapid plasma reagin (RPR), and categorized as RPR-positive or RPR-negative.
Background: The Assessing Donor Variability and New Concepts in Eligibility (ADVANCE) study was a multicenter cross-organizational collaboration to collect data to inform possible changes in blood donor selection criteria for men who have sex with men. Multiple recruitment approaches were used, and these may be applicable to current efforts in LGBTQ+ community engagement to recruit new blood donors.
Methods: Fieldwork for ADVANCE was a partnership between blood collection organizations (BCOs) and LGBTQ+ community organizations.
Article Synopsis
- HIV/AIDS stigma remains a global issue, affecting individuals' willingness to test, seek care, or access treatment, yet there's a lack of research on stigma factors after blood donation notifications.
- A survey of 268 HIV-positive blood donors showed that most valued counseling from blood centers, but 61% experienced moderate stigma, with heterosexual orientation and active healthcare-seeking linked to higher stigma levels.
- The findings highlight the critical role of counseling in connecting individuals to care and mitigating HIV-related stigma in Brazil.
Article Synopsis
- Latin Americans are often overlooked in genetic studies, which can widen gaps in personalized medicine due to the challenges of accessing genetic data and consent processes.
- The Genetics of Latin American Diversity (GLAD) Project compiles genetic information from over 53,000 individuals across various regions to explore diverse ancestry and gene flow in the Americas.
- GLAD includes a tool called GLAD-match to align external genetic samples with its database while protecting individual privacy, thus supporting more inclusive genomic research and enhancing personalized medicine for Latin Americans.
Background: Transfusion-transmissible infection (TTI) prevalence among US blood donors has been widely documented. Here we estimate the prevalence of donors presenting with ≥2 TTIs (multiple infections past or present referred to as coinfections) and describe their demographics and associations.
Methods: Data from the Transfusion-Transmissible Infections Monitoring System were compiled for October 2020-September 2023 (3 years).