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Clinical Trial
. 2018 Dec;58(12):2761-2765.
doi: 10.1111/trf.14916. Epub 2018 Oct 4.

Distribution of hepatitis A antibodies in US blood donors

Alexandra Tejada-Strop  1 , Mohammad Zafrullah  1 , Saleem Kamili  1 , Susan L Stramer  2 , Michael A Purdy  1
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Distribution of hepatitis A antibodies in US blood donors

Alexandra Tejada-Strop et al. Transfusion. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Recently, there has been an increase in the number of hepatitis A outbreaks in the United States. Although the presence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) RNA in blood donors is known to be low, HAV antibody prevalence in this population is unknown.

Study design and methods: Samples from 5001 US blood donors collected primarily in the midwestern United States in 2015 were tested for the presence of HAV IgG antibodies using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassays on the ARCHITECT platform (Abbott Laboratories).

Results: The overall prevalence of IgG anti-HAV was 60%. Only one specimen was IgM anti-HAV positive, for an incidence of 0.02%. IgG anti-HAV prevalence among donors aged 16 to 19 years was 67%, decreased to 54% among donors aged 40 to 49 years and increased to 70% among donors aged 80 to 93 years. No differences were seen by sex with overall IgG anti-HAV prevalence of 61% and 60% for males and females, respectively. Among the five states (Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri) with the highest number of donors tested, IgG anti-HAV prevalence in Missouri (65%) was significantly higher (p <0.01) than that in Illinois (52%) or Kentucky (59%). No other significant differences between states were noted.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the overall high rates of IgG anti-HAV in US blood donors, with the low associated risk of HAV transfusion transmission likely the result of low incidence and effective vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: S. Stramer has received laboratory support from Abbott Laboratories, Roche and Grifolds. All the other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Age distribution for participants (n=5001). The number of participants were grouped into 5 year age bins except for the youngest age group, which covered individuals from 16 to 19 years of age, inclusive, and the oldest age group, which included individuals from 90 to 93 years of age, inclusive. The numbers at the top of each bar are the number of individuals in that age range.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
IgG anti-HAV prevalence by age (n=5001). The fractional IgG anti-HAV reactivity by age range bin is plotted against the mean age within each age bin. Each bin covers 5 years of age except for the first bin, which covered individuals from 16 to 19 years of age, inclusive, and the oldest age group, which included individuals from 80 to 93 years of age, inclusive. The solid black line is the non-parametric local regression line for the data calculated with the loess function in R. The horizontal dashed line is the mean fractional IgG anti-HAV reactivity among all individuals tested.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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