Publications by authors named "S Laperche"
Article Synopsis
- Hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) screening is used in blood establishments worldwide to help prevent the transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), especially from donors with occult HBV infection (OBI).
- A survey conducted revealed varied practices in HBV screening across 30 responses from 25 countries, with some establishments screening all donations for anti-HBc and HBV DNA, while others had different approaches, leading to inconsistencies in donor deferral strategies.
- The findings highlight the need for improved confirmation of anti-HBc results to minimize unnecessary donor deferrals while balancing the risk of transmission from anti-HBc negative OBI donors, particularly in high-endemic regions where sensitive HBV DNA testing is crucial.
Background And Objectives: In 2016, France allowed men who have sex with men (MSM) to donate blood if they had not had sex with men in the previous 12 months. In April 2020, this restriction was relaxed to 4 months due to the lack of negative impact observed on blood safety. This study assesses the impact of reducing this deferral period on epidemiological surveillance indicators.
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- Syphilis cases among blood donors in France have been rising, with a significant uptick observed in 2022 compared to earlier years.
- Data from over 45 million donations (2007-2022) revealed that the infection rate was notably higher in males, particularly among men who have sex with men (MSM), whose risk factor percentage increased over time.
- A non-treponemic test (NTT) was used to assess infection recency, but the data were insufficient to reliably differentiate between recent and past infections among the syphilis-positive donors.