title: Low-level viraemia of hepatitis B virus in an anti-HBc- and anti-HBs-positive blood donor.
abstract: summary In many countries, screening of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in blood donors is limited to HBsAg testing. However, if anti-HBc testing and sensitive HBV nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) for routine screening are not prescribed, HBV viraemia might remain unrecognized. A clinically inconspicuous HBsAg-negative 35-year-old female blood donor was detected with anti-HBc antibodies following the introduction of anti-HBc screening of donors. Based on her history, she had seroconverted to anti-HBs positive (titre >7000 IU/L) after vaccination. Blood donations were routinely tested HBV-DNA negative by minipool NAT. The individual donor samples were reinvestigated by an ultrasensitive NAT with a lower detection limit of 3.8 IU/mL. Intermittent HBV viraemia was detected over a 7-year period from this donor, with a concentration ranging from 8 to 260 IU/mL. In the subsequent donor-directed lookback study, no post-transfusion hepatitis was detected. Low-level HBV viraemia in simultaneous anti-HBc- and anti-HBs-positive blood donors could only be identified with enhanced sensitivity individual polymerase chain reaction assays and is not detectable by pool HBV NAT.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Laboratoriums- und Transfusionsmedizin, Herz- und Diabeteszentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen, Universitätsklinik der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Georgstrasse 11, D-32545 Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. jdreier@hdz-nrw.de
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dreier
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kröger
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diekmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Götting
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kleesiek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001782:Blood Donors; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests / Q000592:standards; D014766:Viremia / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens