Background: Brazilian blood banks encourage donors to report postdonation information (PDI) regarding conditions that would lead to deferral in an attempt to retrieve distributed nonconforming blood.
Objectives: This study evaluated the profile of donors reporting PDI, the impact on transfusion safety, and the possible impact on the discard of blood products.
Subjects and methods: We analyzed 115 consecutive PDIs between May 2014 and July 2015, a period comprising two dengue-like syndrome (DLS) outbreaks.
Results: These PDIs accounted for 87,780 blood donations. The average time for PDIs since donation was 4 (0-23) days and 190 blood components were discarded. DLS accounted for 21.7% of the PDIs analyzed; 11 of the 23 samples tested were nucleic acid test (NAT) positive for dengue and 2 positive for Zika virus (ZIKV). Six of these PDIs were reported after blood components have been transfused: After NAT testing, one of these recipients was diagnosed with dengue and another one with ZIKV infection, both possible transfusions transmitted but without clinical consequences.
Conclusion: The high number of recovered blood components due to PDI suggests that PDI remains a great ally in the fight against transfusion-transmitted infections and may be particularly useful during outbreaks of emerging potentially blood-borne pathogens.
Keywords: Dengue; Zika virus; postdonation information; transfusion-transmitted infection.
Copyright: © 2021 Asian Journal of Transfusion Science.