Background: The study was planned to determine the presence of West Nile Virus (WNV) infection in Pakistani blood donors, using Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAT).
Methods: The blood donors for study were selected on the basis of the standard questionnaire and routine screening results. Six donors were pooled using an automated pipettor and NAT for WNV was performed on Roche Cobas s 201 NAT system. The reactive pools were resolved in Individual Donation-NAT (ID-NAT) format and a sample from FFP bags of reactive donations was retrieved. NAT was again performed on retrieved plasma bag (RPB) sample to confirm the reactive donations. The donors were also recalled and interviewed about history of illness related to recent WNV infection.
Results: After serological screening of 1929 donors during the study period, 1860 donors were selected for NAT test for WNV detection. The mean age of the donors was 28±8.77 (range: 18-57 years). 1847 (99.3%) donors were male and 13 (0.7%) were female. NAT for WNV identified six initially reactive pools (0.32%). On follow-up testing with RPB samples, 4 donors (0.21%) were found confirmed reactive for WNV RNA (NAT yield of 1 in 465 blood donors).
Conclusions: WNV is a threat to safety of blood products in Pakistan. A screening strategy can be implemented after a large-scale study and financial considerations. One of the reduced cost screening strategies is seasonal screening of blood donors for WNV, with pooling of samples.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|
J Virol
January 2025
Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
Unlabelled: Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Currently, there are no targeted antivirals for the treatment of HuNoV infection. Histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs) on the intestinal epithelium are cellular attachment factors for HuNoVs; molecules that block the binding of HuNoVs to HBGAs thus have the potential to be developed as antivirals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Thorac Surg Short Rep
September 2024
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Background: COVID-19 patients exhibit higher incidence of thrombosis in arteries and veins, including those in lungs. Vasa vasorum, which support large blood vessels, have shown involvement in these pathologic processes.
Methods: To further explore the extent of microvascular damage caused by COVID-19 infection, we examined resected main, right, or left pulmonary artery specimens from patients undergoing bilateral lung transplantation for COVID-19- or non-COVID-19-induced pulmonary fibrosis compared with organ donors by histologic and immunohistologic analyses.
Clin Exp Dermatol
January 2025
Department of Clinical Medicine, Copenhagen University, Denmark; Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Department of Clinical Medicine Blegdamsvej 3b 33.5, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Background: The Multi-Specialty Working Group on the Recognition, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Primary Focal Hyperhidrosis developed evidence-based consensus criteria for diagnosing primary hyperhidrosis.
Objectives: To validate new questionnaire items for self-reported classification of primary hyperhidrosis based on the consensus criteria and to estimate the prevalence of primary hyperhidrosis.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study.
HLA
January 2025
Center for Precision Genome Editing and Genetic Technologies for Biomedicine, Pirogov Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
The new HLA-C*12:02:55 allele showed one synonymous nucleotide difference compared to the HLA-С*12:02:02:01 allele in codon 134.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPediatr Blood Cancer
January 2025
Blood and Marrow Transplant/Cellular Therapy Program, Division of Hematology/Oncology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
With advances in conditioning strategies and graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) prevention, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a safe, curative treatment option for pediatric patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). However, donor options have been limited in non-myeloablative matched sibling donor (MSD) setting by excluding recipients with major ABO blood group incompatible donors due to concern of the risk of significant complications such as pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). We present three cases of successful HSCT with major ABO incompatibility with their donors, and discuss strategies to safely expand the donor pool to include these donors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!