Publications by authors named "Jamel A Groves"
Article Synopsis
- The WHO African Region is significantly impacted by malaria, contributing to 94% of global cases, prompting research on detecting Plasmodium RNA in blood donors from Cameroon, Madagascar, and Mali.
- Testing involved analyzing whole blood samples using a specialized assay to identify reactive results, with findings revealing varying rates of Plasmodium repeat reactivity across the countries.
- The study concluded that detecting Plasmodium RNA and related antibodies can enhance safety measures in blood donations and help tackle malaria risks effectively.
Article Synopsis
- * They detected a small number (0.2%) of blood samples with antibodies indicating past exposure to the virus, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 was circulating in the U.S. before the first officially recognized case on January 19, 2020.
- * The findings imply that the early presence of the virus may have gone unnoticed, highlighting the need for more extensive testing and monitoring prior to the outbreak becoming widely recognized.
Article Synopsis
- Malaria is a disease caused by tiny bugs called Plasmodium, which are spread by mosquitoes, and in the US, blood donors are asked about their travel history for malaria before donating blood.
- A special test called the Procleix Plasmodium Assay was developed to find signs of malaria in blood, and it was checked on thousands of blood samples to see how well it works.
- The results showed that this test is really good at detecting malaria, even in healthy people who don't show symptoms, and it might help reduce the number of donors who have to wait before giving blood due to malaria concerns.
Background: The 2022 multi-country outbreak of monkeypox (mpox) resulted in blood collection and public health agencies closely monitoring for changes in transmission dynamics that could pose a threat to the blood supply. While mpox virus (MPXV) is not known to be transfusion transmissible, there have been several studies demonstrating the detection of MPXV in blood. We evaluated the performance characteristics of a research use only (RUO) nucleic acid amplification test for MPXV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This study evaluated whether pathogen reduction technology (PRT) in plasma and platelets using amotosalen/ultraviolet A light (A/UVA) or in red blood cells using amustaline/glutathione (S-303/GSH) may be used as the sole mitigation strategy preventing transfusion-transmitted West Nile (WNV), dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), and chikungunya (CHIKV) viral, and Babesia microti, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Plasmodium parasitic infections.
Methods: Antibody (Ab) status and pathogen loads (copies/mL) were obtained for donations from US blood donors testing nucleic acid (NAT)-positive for WNV, DENV, ZIKV, CHIKV, and B. microti.
Background: In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration revised the requirement for further testing of anti-HCV-reactive donations testing nucleic acid (NAT)-nonreactive via routine mini-pool (MP)-NAT. Individual donation (ID)-HCV NAT was required as a supplemental test prior to a second FDA-licensed anti-HCV assay; if ID-HCV-NAT is reactive, no further testing is required. This study investigated the rate of low-level RNA in anti-HCV-reactive donation samples prior to and following the implementation of supplemental ID-HCV NAT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigated the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in blood donors from six geographic areas in the U.S. during a period of high community transmission.
- Out of nearly 258,000 blood donations tested, only three samples showed reactive results for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, translating to an estimated prevalence of 1.16 cases per 100,000 donations, with detected viral loads being low.
- No signs of infectivity were observed in the positive samples, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia is rare and not a significant risk for blood donation safety, supporting existing guidelines not to require nucleic acid testing for donors.
Background: Rare transfusion-transmitted West Nile virus (WNV) cases usually occur due to gaps in testing involving converting to more sensitive nucleic acid testing (NAT) formats (referred to as triggering). Using data from 2014 to 2018, we investigated a strategy used to increase detection early in the triggering period and reviewed its yield as the individual donation (ID)-NAT geographic area was decreased.
Methods: Mini-pool-NAT transitioned to ID-NAT following triggering based on one WNV NAT-reactive donation (having an elevated signal, repeat reactive, or in an area with WNV ongoing activity).
Background: Despite West Nile virus (WNV) blood donation screening using nucleic acid testing (NAT), donors with low viral loads not detected by mini-pool-NAT have led to transfusion transmitted (TT)-WNV infection. We describe a probable case of fatal TT-WNV infection from an individual donor (ID)-NAT non-reactive apheresis platelet donation.
Study Design And Methods: An apheresis platelet donation was WNV ID-NAT reactive and prior donations from the same donor were investigated.
Background: US blood donors are tested for Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies only at their first presentation, based on studies, reviewed here, demonstrating the absence of incident infections. Reports of autochthonous human transmissions of the parasite in Texas have raised concern about the safety of one-time testing.
Methods: Positive donation frequencies were evaluated among first-time blood donations from 2007 to 2015.
Article Synopsis
- A study investigated the characteristics of US blood donors with recent (RBI) or occult (OBI) hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, analyzing data from 34.4 million donations between 2009-2015.
- Findings showed an overall HBV infection rate of 7.95 per 100,000, with RBI and OBI constituting 26% of infected donors; OBI donors were generally older and had lower viral loads than RBI donors.
- The research highlights the need for comprehensive HBV DNA screening in blood donations and emphasizes the importance of referring infected donors for further care and evaluation.
Background: Transfusion-transmitted West Nile virus (WNV) infection is infrequent as a result of minipool (MP) and individual-donation (ID) nucleic acid testing (NAT) of blood donations. ID-NAT is triggered on the basis of local WNV activity identified by MP-NAT.
Study Design And Methods: A 78-year-old male patient who was treated for cardiac disease received 14 blood components from 30 donors in August 2016.