Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Due to increased use of pre-exposure prohylaxis (PrEP) and its potential to affect HIV screening of blood donors, we undertook antiretroviral residual testing among HIV-negative male donors in England.
METHODS: Residual plasma samples were obtainnd from 46 male donors confirmed positive for syphilis and 96 donors who were repeat reactive for HIV antibodies in screening but confirmed as HIV-negative by reference testing. These were tested for concentrations of tenofovir and emtricitabine by high-performance liquid chromatograhpy coupled with mass spectrometry.
RESULTS: We found evidence of pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP/PEP) use in three male blood donors confirmed positive for syphilis (3 out of 46 screened, 6.5%). Two were estimated to have taken PrEP/PEP within a day of donating, and the third within 2 days. Two were new donors, whereas one had donated previously but acquired syphilis infection after his last donation.
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that a small proportion of blood donors have not been disclosing PrEP/PEP use and therefore donating in non-compliance to donor eligibility criteria.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 132-135 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Sexually Transmitted Infections |
Volume | 98 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 29 Mar 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding information: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.Open Access: This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the
Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which
permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial.
See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Published by BMJ.
Citation: Harvala H, Reynolds C, Ijaz S, et al. Sex Transm Infect, 2022;98:132–135.
DOI: 10.1136/sextrans-2021-054981
Keywords
- HIV
- disease transmission
- infectious
- pre-exposure prophylaxis
- syphilis