An international study on emerging arboviral infections and blood safety

Piya Rajendra; Helen M Faddy; Daniel Candotti; Carolina B Bub; Jose M Kutner; Steven J Drews; Carmen L Charlton; Sheila F O'Brien; Wai-Chiu Tsoi; Michel-Andres Garcia-Otalora; Claire Reynolds; Tuulia Palukka; Riikka Lehtisalo; Ruth Offergeld; Axel Seltsam; Marijke Weber-Schehl; Nahid Chenarsabz; Naoko Goto; Sung-Chan Park; So-Yong Kwon; Ryanne Lieshout-Krikke; Aneta Kopacz; Ewa Sulkowska; Oana-Alexandra Șerban; Simona Ruta; Eugene Zhiburt; Maha Badawi; Josephine Mitchel; Ute Jentsch; Ángel Luis Pajares Herraiz; Ana Lafuente Guijosa; Gülşen Özkaya Şahin; Christoph Niederhauser; Marion C Lanteri; Brian Custer; Galen Conti; Anthea Cheng; Shannah Secret; Peter Simmonds; Heli Harvala; Virology subgroup of the ISBT WP‐TTID

doi:10.1111/trf.70306

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An international study on emerging arboviral infections and blood safety

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An international study on emerging arboviral infections and blood safety

Piya Rajendra, Helen M Faddy, Daniel Candotti, Carolina B Bub, Jose M Kutner, Steven J Drews, Carmen L Charlton, Sheila F O'Brien, Wai-Chiu Tsoi, Michel-Andres Garcia-Otalora, …

Transfusion, Vol.Advanced access

18-Jun-2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/trf.70306

PMID: 42313434

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Abstract

Background Emerging and re-emerging arboviral infections are a risk to blood safety. We conducted an international survey on how blood establishments respond to current and future arbovirus threats. Study Design and Methods A questionnaire on arbovirus donor deferral strategies, pathogen reduction, and donation screening was distributed to members of the International Society of Blood Transfusion working party on transfusion-transmitted infectious diseases. Data from 2024 were gathered and analyzed. Results A total of 23 survey responses were received from 21 countries. This covered a population of 1.45 billion people and 29.9 million blood donations collected in 2024. All respondents applied travel-based donor deferrals, whereas pathogen reduction, implemented by half of the respondents, was mostly applied for a selection of plasma and platelet donations. West Nile virus (WNV) was the only arbovirus blood donations were screened for by nine respondents from eight countries, with 256 donations confirmed as WNV RNA-positive in 2024. No transfusion-transmitted WNV infections were reported. Discussion Blood safety measures remain limited and unevenly distributed globally, and in their present form, are unlikely to provide protection against the growing range of emerging arboviruses. Donor deferral may not always be a sustainable blood safety strategy alone for all blood operators, due to large-scale outbreaks associated with these viruses. While pathogen reduction methodologies are being developed to be applied to all blood components, risk assessments for (re)-emerging arboviruses, such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses, should be performed to determine if additional mitigation, such as blood donation screening, is warranted.

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Title: An international study on emerging arboviral infections and blood safety
Authors: Piya Rajendra - University of Oxford
Helen M Faddy - University of the Sunshine Coast
Daniel Candotti - Inserm
Carolina B Bub - Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein
Jose M Kutner - Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein
Steven J Drews - Canadian Blood Services
Carmen L Charlton - Canadian Blood Services
Sheila F O'Brien - University of Alberta
Wai-Chiu Tsoi - Hong Kong Red Cross
Michel-Andres Garcia-Otalora - Universidad del Rosario
Claire Reynolds - NHS Blood and Transplant
Tuulia Palukka - Finnish Red Cross
Riikka Lehtisalo - Finnish Red Cross
Ruth Offergeld - Robert Koch Institute
Axel Seltsam - German Red Cross
Marijke Weber-Schehl - German Red Cross
Nahid Chenarsabz - Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (Iran)
Naoko Goto - Japanese Red Cross Society, Japan
Sung-Chan Park - Korean Red Cross
So-Yong Kwon - Korean Red Cross
Ryanne Lieshout-Krikke - Sanquin
Aneta Kopacz - Instytut Hematologii i Transfuzjologi
Ewa Sulkowska - Instytut Hematologii i Transfuzjologi
Oana-Alexandra Șerban - Academia Oamenilor de Știință din România
Simona Ruta - Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Eugene Zhiburt - Pigorov National Medical Surgical Center (Russia)
Maha Badawi - King Abdulaziz University
Josephine Mitchel - South African National Blood Service
Ute Jentsch - South African National Blood Service
Ángel Luis Pajares Herraiz - Comunidad de Madrid
Ana Lafuente Guijosa - Comunidad de Madrid
Gülşen Özkaya Şahin - Malmö University
Christoph Niederhauser - Swiss Red Cross
Marion C Lanteri - University of California, San Francisco
Brian Custer - University of California, San Francisco
Galen Conti - American Red Cross
Anthea Cheng - Australian Red Cross Lifeblood
Shannah Secret - University of Oxford
Peter Simmonds - Turku University Hospital
Heli Harvala (Corresponding Author) - NHS Blood and Transplant
Virology subgroup of the ISBT WP‐TTID
Publication details: Transfusion, Vol.Advanced access
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/trf.70306
ISSN: 1537-2995
PMID: 42313434
Copyright note: © 2026 The Author(s). Transfusion published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of AABB. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Organisation Unit: School of Health - Biomedicine
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991241469902621
Output Type: Journal article

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