Confirmed circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in Irish blood donors prior to first national notification of infection.

Introduction: Blood donor studies offer a unique opportunity to screen healthy populations for the presence of antibodies to emerging infections. We describe the use of blood donor specimens to track the 'first-wave' of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.

Methodology: A random selection of donor samples received by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) between February and September 2020 (n = 8,509) were screened by multiple commercial SARs-CoV-2 antibody assays.

Lessons learnt from syphilis-infected blood donors: a timely reminder of missed opportunities.

Objective: Due to the increased number of syphilis infections diagnosed in the UK and beyond, we reviewed our data on blood donors infected with syphilis in the UK and Ireland between 2016 and 2019.

Methods: Data were extracted from the surveillance database for all blood donors confirmed positive for syphilis in the UK and Ireland between 2016 and 2019, together with the total number of donations tested during that period. Data on positive cases included gender, age group, reported treatment, symptoms and confirmatory results.

Blood Donor Screening for Hepatitis E Virus in the European Union.

This review article summarises hepatitis E virus (HEV) blood donation screening strategies in effect in the European Union (EU). Since 2012, eight EU countries have implemented HEV screening. Local rates of seroprevalence, RNA incidence, and molecular epidemiology are variable and not usually directly comparable.