Regular Blood Donations can Help to Boost Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2 Virus?

Background: Regular voluntary unpaid blood donation assures safe blood supply in association with minimum infection transmission. The purpose of this study was to identify the frequency of regular voluntary blood donation and to evaluate the causes of donating blood as well as factors impeding blood donations among the medical and nonmedical students of Karachi. Methods: A comparative cross sectional study was conducted among medical and nonmedical students of JSMU and NED University respectively from May to October 2018. Sample size was 272 including 137 medical and 135 non-medical students. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. Chi-square test of independence/ Fischer’s exact test were applied to assess statistical significance. Result: In medical group 5/21(23.8%) voluntary regular donors were recorded. In non-medical group, voluntary regular donors were found to be 8/30 (26.6%) (p>0.00). Medical students most commonly 15/21 (71.4%) donated blood voluntarily in a camp while non-medical participants frequently donated blood as replacement donors 13/30 (43.3%) (p>0.00). Major hindering factor for blood donation in both study groups was non-participation in blood donation derives i.e. 66/116 (56.8%) in medical and 53/105 (50.4%) in non-medical groups respectively. Anemia, 20/116 (17.2%) in medical and 15/105 (14.2%) in nonmedical students was the second major cause of not donating blood. Conclusion: The frequency of regular voluntary blood donations is very low among undergraduates. However, comparatively, the trend is slightly higher among non-medical group. The major hindrance in not donating blood was non-participation in blood donating derives.

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How Effective are Reminders and Frames in Incentivizing Blood Donations?

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2700608 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Danijela Vuletii

Keyword(s):

Blood Donations

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Overt and occult hepatitis B among immigrants and native blood donors in Madrid, Spain

Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease ◽

10.1177/2049936120982122 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. 204993612098212

Author(s):

Rocío González ◽

Luisa Barea ◽

Ana Arruga ◽

Alberto Richart ◽

Vicente Soriano

Keyword(s):

Hepatitis B ◽

Viral Infections ◽

Hepatitis B Surface Antigen ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Hcv Rna ◽

Repeated Testing ◽

Blood Donations ◽

Occult Hepatitis ◽

Hiv Rna ◽

N 93

Background: The risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infections is very low in developed countries. Recent massive migration flows from highly hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and/or HIV endemic regions to Europe may have changed this scenario. Methods: During 2017 and 2018, a total of 491,753 blood donations (291,762 donors) were evaluated at the Madrid Regional Transfusion Center. All were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HCV and anti-HIV, as well as for HBV-DNA, HCV-RNA and HIV-RNA. Results: Overall, 35 donors were positive for HIV-RNA and 26 for HCV-RNA. HBV markers were found in 111 (0.022%) donors, split out into three categories: HBsAg+ ( n = 93; 0.019%), occult B infection (OBI) ( n = 17; 0.003%), and acute HBV window period ( n = 1; 0.0002%). All 17 OBI donors were positive for anti-HBc and confirmed as viremic in repeated testing. Viral load amounts were uniformly below 100 IU/mL. Ten OBI donors were repeated donors and look-back studies could be completed for eight of them. Fortunately, none of all prior recipients experienced transfusion transmitted hepatitis B. Compared with HBsAg+ donors, OBI donors were more frequently native Spaniards (76% versus 40%) and older (median age 52 versus 42 years old). Conclusion: Active HBV infection is currently found in 0.022% of blood donations (0.038% of donors) in Madrid. This rate is 3-fold greater than for HIV and/or HCV. On the other hand, HBsAg+ donors are 3-fold more frequent than OBI donors and more often immigrants than native Spaniards. No transfusion-transmitted HBV infections were identified during the study period, including retrospective checking of former recipients of OBI donors.

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Trends in serological markers of transfusion transmissible infections in blood donations at the Bamenda Hospital-based Blood Service, Cameroon

Transfusion Clinique et Biologique ◽

10.1016/j.tracli.2021.05.011 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Moses Samje ◽

Victor N Fondoh ◽

Georges Nguefack-Tsague ◽

Laure K J Kamalieuk ◽

Dora Mbanya ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Serological Markers ◽

Blood Donations

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Blood Donations and Transfusions during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain: Impact According to Autonomous Communities and Hospitals

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18073480 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 3480

Author(s):

José Antonio García-Erce ◽

Íñigo Romón-Alonso ◽

Carlos Jericó ◽

José María Domingo-Morera ◽

José Luis Arroyo-Rodríguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Blood Cells ◽

Blood Components ◽

Health Ministry ◽

State Of Emergency ◽

Blood Donations ◽

Autonomous Communities ◽

Packed Red Blood Cells ◽

Average Decrease ◽

A Prospective Study ◽

The Impact

Worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decline in blood donations, between 30% and 70% in some of the most affected countries. In Spain, during the initial eight weeks after the State of Emergency was decreed on 14 March 2020, in the weekly reports of the Health Ministry, an average decrease of 20% was observed between 11 and week 25 compared with the 2018 donation. We aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood donations and blood distribution in four autonomous communities, and to explore the evolution of the consumption of blood components (BCs) in ten hospitals of six autonomous communities. We performed a prospective study of grouped cohorts on the donation and distribution of blood in four regional transfusion centers in four autonomous communities in Spain, and a retrospective study of the consumption of blood components in ten hospitals in six autonomous communities. Regarding donations, there was no significant decrease in donations, with differences between autonomous communities, which started between 1 and 15 March 2020 (−11%). The increase in donations in phase II (from 26 May 2020) stands out. Regarding consumption, there was a significant reduction in the consumption of packed red blood cells (RBCs) (24.5%), plasma (45.3%), and platelets (25.3%) in the central period (16 March–10 May). The reduction in the consumption of RBCs was significant in the period from 1–15 March. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the donation and consumption of BCs.

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