Cancer Incidence and Mortality in a Cohort of US Blood Donors: A 20-Year Study

Blood donors are considered one of the healthiest populations. This study describes the epidemiology of cancer in a cohort of blood donors up to 20 years after blood donation. Records from donors who participated in the Retroviral Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS, 1991–2002) at Blood Centers of the Pacific (BCP), San Francisco, were linked to the California Cancer Registry (CCR, 1991–2010). Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) were estimated using standard US 2000 population, and survival analysis used to compare all-cause mortality among donors and a random sample of nondonors with cancer from CCR. Of 55,158 eligible allogeneic blood donors followed-up for 863,902 person-years, 4,236 (7.7%) primary malignant cancers were diagnosed. SIR in donors was 1.59 (95% CI = 1.54,1.64). Donors had significantly lower mortality (adjusted HR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.66–0.74) compared with nondonor cancer patients, except for respiratory system cancers (adjusted HR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.82–1.05). Elevated cancer incidence among blood donors may reflect higher diagnosis rates due to health seeking behavior and cancer screening in donors. A “healthy donor effect” on mortality following cancer diagnosis was demonstrated. This population-based database and sample repository of blood donors with long-term monitoring of cancer incidence provides the opportunity for future analyses of genetic and other biomarkers of cancer

West Nile Virus Infections Projected from Blood Donor Screening Data, United States, 2003

Routine donor nucleic acid amplification testing is a valuable surveillance screening tool

Multistate assessment of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in blood donors

CDC is conducting a nationwide COVID-19 seroprevalence survey in 25 U.S. metropolitan areas to understand the percentage of people in the United States who may have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.This is the largest nationwide COVID-19 seroprevalence survey to date, and it will be conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Vitalant Research Institute (VRI), and large blood collection organizations, including Vitalant, American Red Cross, Bloodworks Northwest, New York Blood Center, OneBlood, The Blood Center, Versity, Blood Bank of Hawaii, Carter Blood Care, and Banco de Sangre de Servicios Mutuos.This seroprevalence survey will expand an ongoing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) funded project with VRI that involves the NHLBI REDS (Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study)external icon program. The SARS-CoV-2 REDS project plans to test existing blood donation samples from Boston, MA; Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis, MN; New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA; and Seattle, WA for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies each month for 6 months from March through August 2020.As part of this collaboration, CDC will provide technical assistance and financial support to VRI and collaborating institutions that will allow the survey to be expanded to 19 additional metropolitan areas including Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD/Washington, D.C.; Chicago, IL; Dallas/Ft Worth, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Fargo, ND/Sioux Falls/Rapid City, SD; Honolulu, HI; Las Vegas, NV; Miami, FL; Milwaukee, WI; New Orleans, LA; Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburg, PA; Salt Lake City, UT; San Juan, PR; St. Louis, MO; Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL; and Tulsa, OK.VRI and collaborating organizations will collect and test about 1,000 anonymous blood donation samples from each of the 25 total metropolitan areas. They will test samples each month for 12 months, and again at 18 months. About 325,000 samples will be tested overall. Because this survey will collect samples from major metropolitan areas across the country at different time points, its findings will help scientists estimate the percentage of previous SARS-CoV-2 infections out of the total U.S. population. It also will track how the percentage of previous infections is changing over time.About this survey -- Information on blood donation samples tested -- Safety of US blood supply -- Interpreting Serology Results from This Survey.2020794

Large-scale geographic seroprevalence surveys

Updated June 26, 2020Large-scale Geographic Seroprevalence Survey SamplesCommercial Laboratory SurveyBlood Donor SurveyCDC wants to learn more about the percentage of people in the United States who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and to better understand how the virus is spreading through the U.S. population over time. Because infected people can have mild illness or may not get medical care or testing, CDC also wants to use this information to estimate the number of people who have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and were not included in official case counts. To help answer those questions and others, CDC is collaborating with public health and private partners on a variety of seroprevalence surveys of different sizes, locations, populations studied, and purposes.Seroprevalence surveys use serology tests to identify people in a population or community that have antibodies against an infectious disease. Antibodies are specific proteins made in response to infections. Antibodies are detected in the blood of people who are tested after infection; they show an immune response to the infection. Antibody test results are especially important for detecting previous infections in people who had few or no symptoms. It is not known yet if having antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19 can protect someone from getting infected again, or, if they do, how long this protection might last. CDC and its partners plan to study this issue.CDC is conducting seroprevalence surveys called \u201clarge-scale geographic seroprevalence surveys\u201d in locations across the United States. The first seroprevalence surveys began in areas that first reported community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States; they are now being expanded to more regions. Descriptions of these surveys are provided below.Commercial Laboratory Survey -- Blood Donor Survey -- CDC Seroprevalence Survey Types.2020789

Large-scale geographic seroprevalence surveys

Updated May 31, 2020CDC wants to learn more about the percentage of people in the United States who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and to better understand how the virus is spreading through the U.S. population over time. Because infected people can have mild illness or may not get medical care or testing, CDC also wants to use this information to estimate the number of people who have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and were not included in official case counts. To help answer those questions and others, CDC is collaborating with public health and private partners on a variety of seroprevalence surveys of different sizes, locations, populations studied, and purposes.Seroprevalence surveys use serology (blood) tests to identify people in a population or community that have antibodies against an infectious disease. Antibodies are proteins that help fight off infections and provide protection against getting that disease again (immunity). If a person has SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in their blood, it means that person was likely previously infected with the virus, even if the infection was not recognized because it was mild or did not cause symptoms.CDC is conducting seroprevalence surveys called \u201clarge-scale geographic seroprevalence surveys\u201d in locations across the United States. The first seroprevalence surveys began in areas that first reported community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States; they are now being expanded to more regions. Descriptions of these surveys are provided below.Large-scale Geographic Seroprevalence Survey Samples -- Commercial Laboratory Survey -- Blood Donor Survey.2020774

Large-scale geographic seroprevalence surveys

Updated May 25, 2020CDC wants to learn more about the percentage of people in the United States who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and to better understand how the virus is spreading through the U.S. population over time. Because infected people can have mild illness or may not get medical care or testing, CDC also wants to use this information to estimate the number of people who have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and were not included in official case counts. To help answer those questions and others, CDC is collaborating with public health and private partners on a variety of seroprevalence surveys of different sizes, locations, populations studied, and purposes.Seroprevalence surveys use serology (blood) tests to identify people in a population or community that have antibodies against an infectious disease. Antibodies are proteins that help fight off infections and provide protection against getting that disease again (immunity). If a person has SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in their blood, it means that person was likely previously infected with the virus, even if the infection was not recognized because it was mild or did not cause symptoms.CDC is conducting seroprevalence surveys called \u201clarge-scale geographic seroprevalence surveys\u201d in locations across the United States. The first seroprevalence surveys began in areas that first reported community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States; they are now being expanded to more regions. Descriptions of these surveys are provided below.Commercial Laboratory Survey -- Blood Donor Survey.2020772

Human T lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2: a point of view

24024

Detection of Nucleocapsid Antibodies Associated with Primary SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Unvaccinated and Vaccinated Blood Donors.

Nucleocapsid antibody assays can be used to estimate SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence in regions implementing spike-based COVID-19 vaccines. However, poor sensitivity of nucleocapsid antibody assays in detecting infection after vaccination has been reported. We derived a lower cutoff for identifying previous infections in a large blood donor cohort (N = 142,599) by using the Ortho VITROS Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Total-N Antibody assay, improving sensitivity while maintaining specificity >98%. We validated sensitivity in samples donated after self-reported swab-confirmed infections diagnoses. Sensitivity for first infections in unvaccinated donors was 98.1% (95% CI 98.0-98.2) and for infection after vaccination was 95.6% (95% CI 95.6-95.7) based on the standard cutoff. Regression analysis showed sensitivity was reduced in the Delta compared with Omicron period, in older donors, in asymptomatic infections, <30 days after infection, and for infection after vaccination. The standard Ortho N antibody threshold demonstrated good sensitivity, which was modestly improved with the revised cutoff

Blood donor selection: guidelines on assessing donor suitability for blood donation

The WHO guidelines on assessing donor suitability for blood donation have been developed to assist blood transfusion services in countries that are establishing or strengthening national systems for the selection of blood donors. They are designed for use by policy makers in national blood programmes in ministries of health, national advisory bodies such as national blood commissions or councils, and blood transfusion services.Executive summary -- Acronyms -- Preface -- Policy recommendations -- Technical recommendations -- 1. Introduction -- Part 1: National system for blood donor selection -- 2. Establishing a national system for blood donor selection -- 3. Assessing donor suitability -- Part 2: Criteria for blood donor selection -- 4. General donor assessment -- 5. Donor medical history I: Non-communicable diseases -- 6. Donor medical history II: Medical and surgical interventions -- 7. TTI and donor risk assessment -- Glossary -- Reerences -- Acknowledgements -- Annex1. International and national guidelines -- Annex 2. Example of a blood donor questionnaire -- Annex 3. Literature search strategies and decision-making process for formulation of recommendations.Blood transfusion services (BTS) have the responsibility to collect blood only from donors who are at low risk for any infection that could be transmitted through transfusion and who are unlikely to jeopardize their own health by blood donation. A rigorous process to assess the suitability of prospective donors is therefore essential to protect the safety and sufficiency of the blood supply, and safeguard the health of recipients of transfusion and blood donors themselves, while ensuring that suitable donors are not deferred unnecessarily. These World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, Blood donor selection: guidelines on assessing donor suitability for blood donation have been developed to assist blood transfusion services in countries that are establishing or strengthening national systems for the selection of blood donors1. They are designed for use by policy makers in national blood programmes in ministries of health, national advisory bodies such as national blood commissions or councils, and blood transfusion services. WHO guidance on criteria for the selection of blood donors was first published in the distance learning materials, Safe Blood and Blood Products, Module 1: Safe Blood Donation in 1994. These earlier recommendations were developed on the basis of international best practice but did not have a clear evidence base. In 2009, the WHO Blood Transfusion Safety programme (WHO/BTS) convened a guideline development group (GDG) to prepare evidence-based recommendations on criteria for assessing the suitability of blood donors. The GDG also recognized the need to provide guidance on establishing national systems for blood donor selection.WHO also acknowledges with thanks the technical collaboration and financial contribution of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for this project.Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-107)

Haemovigilance

Six years ago we devoted an International Forum to haemovigilance. At that time a haemovigilance system had been established in seven of the 17 countries from which a contribution to the Forum was received. It therefore seemed of interest to investigate how haemovigilance has developed since then, and to enquire what the impact will be of the new European Union (EU) Blood Directive that will be implemented in November 2005. Furthermore, data from haemovigilance may now be available. The questions listed below were sent to many countries. We obtained a record number of 24 contributions to this Forum. Question 1. If a haemovigilance system had not been established in your country in 1999, has one been adopted since then, and, if not, will it be established in the near future? Question 2. Is participating in the haemovigilance system in your country legally obligatory, or is it voluntary? Question 3. Is reporting on transfusion-related adverse events and reactions the main purpose of haemovigilance, or are other aspects, such as the misuse of blood products, also included? Question 4. Which adverse events must be reported? Question 5. Could you provide us with the results of haemovigilance in the last 2 years? Question 6. For European countries: will you adapt your haemovigilance program after the implementation of the new EU Blood Directive in November 2005?peer-reviewe