The impact of Ontario smoke-free legislation on secondhand smoke in enclosed public places.

Many studies have evaluated the impact of indoor smoking bans on secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. No studies have assessed the impact of a smoking ban on SHS in enclosed areas outside separately ventilated, designated smoking rooms (DSRs). This study evaluated the overall impact of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act implemented May 31, 2006, on SHS in bars and coffee shops and the impact of banning DSRs on SHS outside DSRs.

Declining hepatitis C rates in first-time blood donors: insight from surveillance and case-control risk factor studies.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) rates have decreased steadily in first-time donors in Canada since testing was implemented but reasons are unclear. A description of factors that may have played a role in this decline is reported.

Study Design And Methods: Descriptive analysis of first-time blood donors by HCV positivity status and year (1993--2006), sex, and age was carried out.

Assessment of a travel question to identify donors with risk of Trypanosoma cruzi: operational validity and field testing.

Background: Because Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) infection in Canada and the United States is largely contracted in endemic countries, targeted testing of blood donors with risk travel may improve safety. The operational validity of a travel question suitable for donor screening was tested, and it was field-tested.

Experience of a network of transfusion coordinators for blood conservation (Ontario Transfusion Coordinators [ONTraC]).

Background: The experiences of the development of a provincial program to promote blood conservation are herein reported.

Study Design And Methods: Transfusion coordinators were placed in 23 Ontario hospitals. Anonymized laboratory and clinical information was collected in a defined number of all consecutive patients admitted for three designated procedures: knee arthroplasty, abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery (n approximately 1100, 300, and 300 at each time period, respectively).

Face-to-face interviewing in predonation screening: lack of effect on detected human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus infections.

Background: Predonation screening has become more elaborate over the years, while human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive donations have declined. The impact of face-to-face interviewing and of the format of the Donor Health Assessment Questionnaire (DHAQ) have not been evaluated.

Study Design And Methods: Canadian Blood Services DHAQ records between 1990 and 2004 were examined, and changes in them were tracked.

Predictive ability of sequential surveys in determining donor loss from increasingly stringent variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease deferral policies.

Background: Predonation screening questions about travel increase the safety of the blood supply from diseases such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and malaria. This study examines the ability of sequential surveys to predict actual travel deferrals and the operational validity of travel questions.

Study Design And Methods: To assess donor travel histories before implementing key deferral policies, two donor surveys were carried out at Canadian Blood Services collection sites in February 1999 (8026 donors) and March 2001 (13,623 donors).

Incidence and estimated rates of residual risk for HIV, hepatitis C, hepatitis B and human T-cell lymphotropic viruses in blood donors in Canada, 1990-2000.

Background: Since 1990, the Canadian Red Cross Society and Canadian Blood Services have been testing blood donors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody and HCV nucleic acids and have supplemented HIV antibody testing with p24 antigen testing. We report trends in the incidence of blood-transmissible viral markers and estimates of the risk of undetected infection in donors over the last decade.

Methods: We extracted anonymous donor and blood-transmissible disease information from the Canadian Blood Services National Epidemiology Donor Database for 8.

Proceedings of a consensus conference: blood-borne HIV and hepatitis-optimizing the donor selection process.

Over the past several years, concern for the safety of blood transfusion has evolved from a primary focus on bacterial infections such as syphilis to viral infections including hepatitis B, C, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and most recently, the theoretical risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). As a result of these changes, blood bankers have found themselves faced with the dilemma of balancing the rights of transfusion recipients to receive safe blood products, with the rights of individuals wishing to donate blood as an altruistic contribution to society.