Low risk of SARS-CoV-2 in blood transfusion

Department of Medical Diagnostics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Centre for Health Systems Strengthening, Kumasi, Ghana. Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Institute of Virology, Charite, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Department of Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Department of Molecular Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Department of Clinical Microbiology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Department of Global and International Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

PloS one. 2021;16(4):e0249069
Abstract
BACKGROUND The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to remain a global challenge. There is emerging evidence of SARS-CoV-2 virus found in the blood of patients from China and some developed countries. However, there is inadequate data reported in Ghana and other parts of Africa, where blood transfusion service heavily relies on voluntary and replacement blood donors. This study aimed to investigate whether plasma of infected individuals could pose significant transfusion transmitted risk of COVID-19 in Ghanaian populations. METHODS This cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research into Tropical Medicine (KCCR), KNUST, Ghana. Study subjects comprised contacts of COVID-19 individuals, those with classical symptoms of COVID-19 and individuals who had recovered based on the new Ghana discharge criteria. Whole blood, sputum or deep coughed saliva samples were collected and transported to KCCR for SARS-CoV-2 testing. Viral nucleic acid was extracted from sputum/nasopharyngeal samples using Da An Gene column based kit and from plasma using LBP nucleic acid extraction kit. Real-Time PCR was performed specifically targeting the ORF1ab and Nucleocapsid (N) genomic regions of the virus. RESULTS A total of 97 individuals were recruited into the study, with more than half being males (58; 59.7%). The mean age of all subjects was 33 years (SD = 7.7) with minimum being 22 years and maximum 56 years. Majority (76; 78.4%) of all the subjects were asymptomatic, and among the few symptomatic subjects, cough (10; 10.3%) was the most predominant symptom. Of the 97 sputum samples tested, 79 (81.4%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2. We identified SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in the plasma of 1 (1.03%) subject who had clinically recovered. CONCLUSION This study reports the identification of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA in a convalescent individual in Ghana. Due to the low prevalence observed and the marginal cycling thresholds associated, the risk of transfusion transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is negligible. Well-powered studies and advanced diagnostics to determine infectious viremia is recommended to further evaluate the potential risk of hematogenous transmission among recovered patients.
Study details
Language : eng
Credits : Bibliographic data from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine