Improving the screening of blood donors with syphilis rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and rapid plasma reagin (RPR) in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

Background: Syphilis testing conventionally relies on a combination of non-treponemal and treponemal tests. The primary objective of this study was to describe the positive predictive value (PPV) of a screening algorithm in a combination of a treponemal rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Ghana.

Materials And Methods: From February 2014 to January 2015, 5 mL of venous blood samples were taken from 16 016 blood donors and tested with a treponemal RDT; 5 mL of venous blood was taken from 526 consenting initial syphilis sero-reactive blood donors.

Recall of symptoms and treatment of syphilis and yaws by healthy blood donors screening positive for syphilis in Kumasi, Ghana.

Objective: To describe the recalled medical history, clinical manifestations, and treatment of yaws and syphilis by syphilis seroreactive blood donors in Kumasi, Ghana.

Methods: Of the blood donors at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana tested with the syphilis rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and later by rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test, 526 were seroreactive. Four hundred and seventy-one (89.

A novel strategy for screening blood donors for syphilis at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana.

Objective: To implement and describe a novel syphilis screening strategy for blood donors.

Background: The seroprevalence of syphilis in blood donors is often high in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) although the proportion of infectious donations is probably low. Syphilis screening may not happen at all; or the use of non-specific screening tests, which have high false positive rates, results in many donations being discarded unnecessarily.

Syphilis screening practices in blood transfusion facilities in Ghana.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to compare laboratory practices for screening blood donors for syphilis at blood transfusion facilities in Ghana with the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the National Blood Service, Ghana (NBSG). The prevalence of syphilis antibodies in blood donors in Ghana was also estimated.

Methods: Over an 11-month period, from February 2014 to January 2015, a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 122 laboratory technical heads out of a total of 149 transfusion facilities in Ghana.

Fourteen-year experience of a tertiary hospital transfusion committee in West Africa.

Background: Hospital transfusion committees (HTCs) have been established in the United States to link producers and users as well as to ensure appropriate use of blood. The HTC has been little reported in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), although it has been established in some hospitals.

Study Design And Methods: The minutes of three to four HTC meetings per year in a tertiary hospital hosting its own blood service have been reviewed to examine the HTC role over a period of 14 years.