Evidence of HIV pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP/PEP) among blood donors: A pilot study, England June 2018 to July 2019

Heli Harvala, Claire Reynolds, Samreen Ijaz, Vicki Maddox, Sujan Dilly Penchala, Alieu Amara, Laura Else, Susan Brailsford, Saye Khoo

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    12 Citations (Scopus)
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    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 languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)132-135
    Number of pages4
    JournalSexually Transmitted Infections
    Volume98
    Issue number2
    Early online date29 Mar 2021
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 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

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