Impact of donor deferrals for malaria on blood availability in the United States
- 1 October 2008
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Transfusion
- Vol. 48 (10), 2222-2228
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2008.01825.x
Abstract
US blood availability is negatively impacted by residence or travel-related deferrals designed to prevent transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 group O, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Leishmania, and malaria. Generally, travel and residence deferrals lack sensitivity and specificity to identify infected donors, particularly for malaria. This study evaluated trends in malaria deferrals and their impact on blood availability from 2000 through 2006. An American Red Cross (ARC) research database was used to monitor trends in deferrals for exposure to Plasmodium spp., the causative agents of malaria. Annual deferral rates were classified as travel, residence, and history of malaria during 2000 through 2006. Overall yearly donation rates for acceptable donors were determined and used to estimate donations lost due to malaria-related deferrals. Approximately 29 million donors presented at ARC collection sites and 316,495 (1.1%) were deferred for malaria risk. More than 91 percent of malaria deferrals were for travel to endemic countries; travel deferrals showed a significant increase (p < 0.001) throughout the study period. Calculations of yearly donation rates suggested that more than 540,000 potential ARC blood donations were lost to malaria deferrals during the 7-year period. The vast majority of malaria deferrals were for travel to endemic areas; however, few US donors visit those areas associated with most US cases of malaria or transfusion-transmitted malaria. Current interventions fail to capture many semi-immune donors, those at greatest risk for transmitting infection. Considerations should be given to selective screening and permanent deferral of donors with a history of malaria.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Plasmodium knowlesi Malaria in Humans Is Widely Distributed and Potentially Life ThreateningClinical Infectious Diseases, 2008
- Making sense of malariaTransfusion, 2007
- Implementation of the Uniform Donor History Questionnaire across the American Red Cross Blood Services: increased deferral among repeat presenters but no measurable impact on blood safetyTransfusion, 2007
- Return behavior of blood donors after expiration of a 1-year malarial travel deferralTransfusion, 2007
- Predictive ability of sequential surveys in determining donor loss from increasingly stringent variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease deferral policiesTransfusion, 2006
- Malaria and blood transfusionVox Sanguinis, 2006
- The efficacy of a malarial antibody enzyme immunoassay for establishing the reinstatement status of blood donors potentially exposed to malariaVox Sanguinis, 2005
- Evaluation of a malarial antibody assay for use in the screening of blood and tissue products for clinical useVox Sanguinis, 2004
- Are current measures to prevent transfusion‐associated protozoal infections sufficient?Vox Sanguinis, 2004
- Estimating blood donor loss due to the variant CJD travel deferralTransfusion, 2004