Donors deferred for self-reported Chagas disease history: does it reduce risk?

Area of Science:

• Transfusion Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Current FDA guidelines mandate screening blood donors for Chagas disease history.
• This practice aims to prevent transfusion-transmitted Chagas disease.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Chagas disease history questionnaire in identifying infected blood donors.
• To compare the yield of the questionnaire versus serological testing for anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of American Red Cross donor data from January 2000 to August 2011.
• Donors deferred for Chagas history were contacted for further evaluation and testing.
• Analysis of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi screening data for donors after January 2007.

Main Results:

• Over 12 years, only 28 potentially infected donors were identified via the Chagas history question.
• Of those identified, few showed serological evidence of infection.
• In contrast, nearly 5 years of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi screening identified 488 infected donors, none of whom reported a Chagas history.

Conclusions:

• The Chagas disease history questionnaire has minimal value in identifying infected blood donors.
• Routine serological screening for anti-Trypanosoma cruzi antibodies is a more effective strategy.
• The questionnaire's contribution to preventing infected donations is negligible compared to serological testing.