Korean J Blood Transfus.  2017 Dec;28(3):264-274. 10.17945/kjbt.2017.28.3.264.

Estimation of the Outbreaks of Transfusion-Transmissible Emerging Infectious Diseases in Korean Blood Donors by Public Data

• Kang JW
• Seo JH
• Kang J
• Youn KW
• Shin SM
• Seo YI
• Huh K

• KMID: 2401744
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.17945/kjbt.2017.28.3.264

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Transfusion transmissible emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) is a potential risk to the safety of blood transfusions due to the lack of donor screening assays. To prevent the spread of EIDs through blood transfusions, we attempted to predict the possibility of blood donations from people with EIDs using a public database.
METHODS
We used the Disease Web Statistics System of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Korean Statistical Information Service. We estimated the possibility of blood donations from people with EIDs using the public database combined with the database made available by the Blood Information Management System of the Korean Red Cross.
RESULTS
Among the transfusion transmissible EIDs, Babesiosis, Leishmaniasis, West Nile fever, Chikungunya, and Dengue fever were reported in Korea. All of them were cases imported from abroad. Although the number of reported cases of Babesiosis, Leishmaniasis, West Nile fever, and Chikungunya were less than 10 per year until 2016, the reported cases of Dengue fever gradually increased from 2001, and there were 318 cases of Dengue fever in 2016.
CONCLUSION
The possibility of blood donation from people with transfusion-transmissible EIDs was low because all reported transfusion-transmissible EIDs in Korea were from foreigners and blood donation from Koreans who returned from abroad was restricted for a period of a month. Nonetheless, preventive strategy for donation from people is necessary given the recent increase in Dengue fever.

Keyword

Emerging infectious diseases; Donation; Dengue fever

MeSH Terms

Animals
Babesiosis
Blood Donors*
Blood Transfusion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
Communicable Diseases, Emerging*
Dengue
Disease Outbreaks*
Donor Selection
Emigrants and Immigrants
Humans
Information Management
Information Services
Korea
Leishmaniasis
Red Cross
West Nile Fever