TY - JOUR
T1 - Detection of asymptomatic Leishmania infection in blood donors at two blood banks in Ethiopia
AU - Mohammed, Rezika
AU - Melkamu, Roma
AU - Pareyn, Myrthe
AU - Abdellati, Said
AU - Bogale, Tadfe
AU - Engidaw, Asinakew
AU - Kinfu, Abiy
AU - Girma, Tibebu
AU - van Griensven, Johan
N1 - FTX; DOAJ; Copyright: © 2023 Mohammed et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. (CC BY 4.0)
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a disease caused by Leishmania parasites. While predominantly transmitted by sandflies, cases of VL transmitted through blood transfusion have been reported, particularly in immunocompromised recipients. Although Leishmania parasites have been found in blood donors in some VL endemic areas, this has never been studied in East-Africa, where HIV prevalence is relatively high. We established the prevalence of asymptomatic Leishmania infection and associated socio-demographic factors among blood donors presenting at two blood bank sites (Metema and Gondar) in northwest Ethiopia between June and December 2020. Metema is located in a VL-endemic area; Gondar has historically been considered VL non-endemic but as an outbreak of VL has occurred around Gondar, it was defined as previously VL non-endemic. Blood samples were tested by the rK39 rapid diagnostic test (RDT), rK39 ELISA, direct agglutination test (DAT) and qPCR targeting kinetoplast DNA (kDNA). Asymptomatic infection was defined as positive by any of these tests in a healthy person. A total of 426 voluntary blood donors were included. The median age was 22 years (IQR, 19-28 years); 59% were male and 81% resided in urban areas. Only one participant had a history of VL and three had a family history of VL. Asymptomatic infection was detected in 15.0% (n = 32/213) in Metema and 4.2% (n = 9/213) in Gondar. The rK39 ELISA was positive in 5.4% (n = 23/426), the rK39 RDT in 2.6% (11/426), PCR in 2.6% (11/420) and DAT in 0.5% (2/426). There were six individuals with two positive tests: one positive on rK39 RDT and PCR and five positive on rK39 RDT and ELISA. The prevalence of asymptomatic infection was higher in Metema (VL-endemic) and males but was not associated with age, a history of VL amongst family members or living in a rural area. Antibodies against Leishmania and parasite DNA was detected in a substantial number of blood donors. Future research should be directed at better defining the risk to recipients, including parasite viability studies and longitudinal studies amongst recipients.
AB - Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a disease caused by Leishmania parasites. While predominantly transmitted by sandflies, cases of VL transmitted through blood transfusion have been reported, particularly in immunocompromised recipients. Although Leishmania parasites have been found in blood donors in some VL endemic areas, this has never been studied in East-Africa, where HIV prevalence is relatively high. We established the prevalence of asymptomatic Leishmania infection and associated socio-demographic factors among blood donors presenting at two blood bank sites (Metema and Gondar) in northwest Ethiopia between June and December 2020. Metema is located in a VL-endemic area; Gondar has historically been considered VL non-endemic but as an outbreak of VL has occurred around Gondar, it was defined as previously VL non-endemic. Blood samples were tested by the rK39 rapid diagnostic test (RDT), rK39 ELISA, direct agglutination test (DAT) and qPCR targeting kinetoplast DNA (kDNA). Asymptomatic infection was defined as positive by any of these tests in a healthy person. A total of 426 voluntary blood donors were included. The median age was 22 years (IQR, 19-28 years); 59% were male and 81% resided in urban areas. Only one participant had a history of VL and three had a family history of VL. Asymptomatic infection was detected in 15.0% (n = 32/213) in Metema and 4.2% (n = 9/213) in Gondar. The rK39 ELISA was positive in 5.4% (n = 23/426), the rK39 RDT in 2.6% (11/426), PCR in 2.6% (11/420) and DAT in 0.5% (2/426). There were six individuals with two positive tests: one positive on rK39 RDT and PCR and five positive on rK39 RDT and ELISA. The prevalence of asymptomatic infection was higher in Metema (VL-endemic) and males but was not associated with age, a history of VL amongst family members or living in a rural area. Antibodies against Leishmania and parasite DNA was detected in a substantial number of blood donors. Future research should be directed at better defining the risk to recipients, including parasite viability studies and longitudinal studies amongst recipients.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011142
DO - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011142
M3 - A1: Web of Science-article
C2 - 36893183
SN - 1935-2727
VL - 17
SP - e0011142
JO - PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
JF - PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
IS - 3
ER -