Background
Transmission of SARSCoV2 by asymptomatic individuals and by blood transfusion are important issues to understand in order to control the viral spread. In this work, we estimated the current SARSCoV2 infection rate in blood donors from Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Study Design and Methods
Saliva and blood samples were collected from 4103 blood donors from June 15 to September 30, 2020. Saliva samples were tested by realtime RTPCR for SARSCoV2 in minipools of four samples. Individual samples were tested for positive or inconclusive pools, and positive donors had their plasma tested.
Results
Twentyseven (0.66%) blood donors were positive for SARSCoV2 in their saliva, but their plasma was negative, except for one, who presented a high viral load in saliva and nasopharyngeal samples and RNAemia in the plasma close to the limit of detection. Fourteen (56%) positive blood donors reported mild symptoms related to COVID19 after donation, but the viral load levels were not statistically different between symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals.
Discussion
Despite the measures taken by Blood Centers to avoid blood donors with SARSCoV2 infection, asymptomatic or presymptomatic carriers are able to donate. The risk of the virus transmission by transfusion seems to be negligible since plasma RNAemia was seen at a very low level in only one (3.7%) of the positive donors, but other studies must be performed to confirm this finding.
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