title: Celiac disease in Tunisia: serological screening in healthy blood donors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent epidemiological studies in Europe and in USA using antigliadin antibodies and antiendomysium antibodies for initial screening have shown that the overall prevalence of celiac disease (CD) is about 1:200 (0.5%).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To screen for CD in healthy blood donors in Tunisia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sera from 2500 healthy blood donors (median age: 21 years, 70% men and 30% women) were screened for IgG-antigliadin antibodies and IgA-antigliadin antibodies with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All sera with positive antigliadin antibodies were tested for antiendomysium antibodies using human umbilical cord cryosections as substrate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven healthy blood donors (median age: 21 years; four men, three women) have antiendomysium antibodies. The prevalence of antiendomysium antibodies in healthy blood donors in Tunisia is 1:355 (0.28%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of a high specificity of the antiendomysium antibodies, it is likely that the seven blood donors identified in this study have CD. These data suggest that CD is frequent in Tunisia.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy, Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mankaï
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Landolsi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chahed
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gueddah
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Limem
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben Abdessalem
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yacoub-Jemni
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ghannem
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jeddi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ghedira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000592:standards; D002446:Celiac Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005903:Gliadin / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D005903:Gliadin