title: A novel strategy for screening blood donors for syphilis at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To implement and describe a novel syphilis screening strategy for blood donors.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The seroprevalence of syphilis in blood donors is often high in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) although the proportion of infectious donations is probably low. Syphilis screening may not happen at all; or the use of non-specific screening tests, which have high false positive rates, results in many donations being discarded unnecessarily. This can have a critical effect on already inadequate blood supplies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood donors were screened at the time of donation with an anti-treponemal rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and blood collected irrespective of the result. Units screening negative for syphilis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and C were released to stock. RDT screen-positive units were re-tested with rapid plasma reagin (RPR) - units testing negative were released to stock and test-positive units discarded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 2213 blood donors, 182 (8·2%; 182/2213) screened positive by RDT. In addition, 38 out of these 182 (20·9%) were RPR positive on post-donation testing. Over 2 months there was a 79% reduction in blood units discarded due to a positive syphilis screen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In other LMIC, this novel strategy can contribute to improving blood safety without jeopardising blood supply.
authors.affiliation: Transfusion Medicine Unit, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.|Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sarkodie
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Immunology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ullum
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.|Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Owusu-Dabo
authors.affiliation: Transfusion Medicine Unit, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Owusu-Ofori
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Owusu-Ofori
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hassall
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D046148:Donor Selection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013587:Syphilis / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: blood donation testing; blood safety; serological testing