Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Mar 15;205(6):875-85.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jir862. Epub 2012 Jan 31.

Genetic diversity of recently acquired and prevalent HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus infections in US blood donors

Eric Delwart  1 , Elizabeth Slikas, Susan L Stramer, Hany Kamel, Debra Kessler, David Krysztof, Leslie H Tobler, Danielle M Carrick, Whitney Steele, Deborah Todd, David J Wright, Steven H Kleinman, Michael P Busch; NHLBI-REDS-II Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Genetic diversity of recently acquired and prevalent HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus infections in US blood donors

Eric Delwart et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Genetic variations of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and hepatitis B virus (HBV) can affect diagnostic assays and therapeutic interventions. Recent changes in prevalence of subtypes/genotypes and drug/immune-escape variants were characterized by comparing recently infected vs more remotely infected blood donors.

Methods: Infected donors were identified among approximately 34 million US blood donations, 2006-2009; incident infections were defined as having no or low antiviral antibody titers. Viral genomes were partially sequenced.

Results: Of 321 HIV strains (50% incident), 2.5% were non-B HIV subtypes. Protease and reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor resistance mutations were found in 2% and 11% of infected donors, respectively. Subtypes in 278 HCV strains (31% incident) yielded 1a>1b>3a>2b>2a>4a>6d, 6e: higher frequencies of 3a in incident cases vs higher frequencies of 1b in prevalent cases were found (P = .04). Twenty subgenotypes among 193 HBV strains (26% incident) yielded higher frequencies of A2 in incident cases and higher frequencies of A1, B2, and B4 in prevalent cases (P = .007). No HBV drug resistance mutations were detected. Six percent of incident vs 26% of prevalent HBV contained antibody neutralization escape mutations (P = .01).

Conclusions: Viral genetic variant distribution in blood donors was similar to that seen in high-risk US populations. Blood-borne viruses detected through large-scale routine screening of blood donors can complement molecular surveillance studies of highly exposed populations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A, Algorithm for classification of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive donations as incident or prevalent infections for selection of cases for sequencing. Boxes in gray indicate the donations from which samples were selected for sequencing for this study. B, Histograms showing success of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) relative to viral loads; frequencies of donations from incident and prevalent cases are shown separately. C, HIV subtypes of sequenced samples by incident and prevalent case status. Abbreviations: IFA, immunofluorescence assay; NAT, nucleic acid testing; WB, Western blot.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
A, Algorithm for classification of hepatitis C virus (HCV)–positive donations as incident or prevalent infections for selection of cases for sequencing. Boxes in gray indicate the donations from which samples were selected for sequencing for this study. B, Histograms showing success of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) relative to viral loads; frequencies of donations from incident and prevalent cases are shown separately. C, HCV subtypes of sequenced samples by incident and prevalent case status. Abbreviations: NAT, nucleic acid testing; RIBA, recombinant immunoblot assay.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
A, Algorithm for classification of hepatitis B virus (HBV)–positive donations as incident or prevalent infections for selection of cases for sequencing. Boxes in gray indicate the donations from which samples were selected for sequencing for this study. B, Histograms showing success of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) relative to viral loads; frequencies of donations from incident and prevalent cases are shown separately. C, HBV subgenotypes of sequenced samples by incident and prevalent case status. Abbreviations: HBc, anti-HBV core antibody; HBsAg, HBV surface antigen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Zou S, Stramer SL, Notari EP, et al. Current incidence and residual risk of hepatitis B infection among blood donors in the United States. Transfusion. 2009;49:1609–20. - PubMed
    1. Zou S, Dorsey KA, Notari EP, et al. Prevalence, incidence, and residual risk of human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus infections among United States blood donors since the introduction of nucleic acid testing. Transfusion. 2010;50:1495–504. - PubMed
    1. Brennan CA, Stramer SL, Holzmayer V, et al. Identification of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 non-B subtypes and antiretroviral drug-resistant strains in United States blood donors. Transfusion. 2009;49:125–33. - PubMed
    1. Stramer SL, Wend U, Candotti D, et al. Nucleic acid testing to detect HBV infection in blood donors. N Engl J Med. 2011;364:236–47. - PubMed
    1. Busch MP, Pilcher CD, Mastro TD, et al. Beyond detuning: 10 years of progress and new challenges in the development and application of assays for HIV incidence estimation. AIDS. 2010;24:2763–71. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms