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%).
Aim: To screen for CD in healthy blood donors in Tunisia.
Patients and 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.