Prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis E virus infection in blood donors: a nationwide survey in Italy, 2017 to 2019.

ABSTRACT: BackgroundIn high-income countries, hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is mainly a zoonosis. However, it is also transfusion-transmissible and some countries, but not Italy, have introduced HEV screening for blood donations.AimWe assessed HEV infection prevalence and risk factors in a nationwide sample of Italian blood donors.MethodsWe selected 107 blood establishments (BE) distributed in the 20 Italian regions by a stratified two-stage design and invited them to participate in the study. Donors were tested for anti-HEV IgG and IgM and HEV RNA. Sociodemographic data and risk factors were collected through a questionnaire.ResultsOverall, 60 BE from 60 provinces in 19 Italian regions joined the study. We assessed HEV markers in 7,172 blood donors, of whom 6,235 completed the questionnaire. Ov

SUBMITTER: Spada E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9164674 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature