Analysis of current SARS-CoV-2 infection in a large population of blood donors evidenced that RNAemia is rare in plasma.

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by asymptomatic individuals and by blood transfusion are important issues to understand to control the viral spread. In this work, we estimated the current SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in blood donors from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Saliva and blood samples were collected from 4103 blood donors from June 15 to September 30, 2020. Saliva samples were tested by real-time RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 in mini-pools of four samples. Individual samples were tested for positive or inconclusive pools, and positive donors had their plasma tested. Twenty-seven (0.66%) blood donors were positive for SARS-CoV-2 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 COVID-19 after donation, but the viral load levels were not statistically different between symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Despite the measures taken by Blood Centers to avoid blood donors with SARS-CoV-2 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.

Chaves DG ，da Silva Malta MCF ，de Souza Madeira Ferreira Boy L ，Miranda Barbosa A ，Fonseca CN ，Ellen de Lima Torres D ，Patterson Nogueira J ，Medeiros Moreira H ，Cristine Martineli Loureiro F ，Vargas de Freitas Silva J ，Aparecida Ribeiro M ，Guimarães Mourão Cioffi J ，Lobato Martins M ... -  《-》

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of four different strategies for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in the general population (CoV-Surv Study): a structured summary of a study protocol for a cluster-randomised, two-factorial controlled trial.

Deckert A ，Anders S ，de Allegri M ，Nguyen HT ，Souares A ，McMahon S ，Boerner K ，Meurer M ，Herbst K ，Sand M ，Koeppel L ，Siems T ，Brugnara L ，Brenner S ，Burk R ，Lou D ，Kirrmaier D ，Duan Y ，Ovchinnikova S ，Marx M ，Kräusslich HG ，Knop M ，Bärnighausen T ，Denkinger C ... -  《Trials》

Risk of transfusion-transmitted infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from blood donors in Japan.

Shinohara N ，Ito M ，Kai K ，Kamo N ，Owada T ，Sobata R ，Yamagishi N ，Takahashi H ，Ikeda Y ，Sawai H ，Furuta RA ，Matsubayashi K ，Hino I ，Goto N ，Satake M ... -  《-》

SARS-CoV-2 Presence in the Saliva, Tears, and Cerumen of COVID-19 Patients.

The emergence of a new coronavirus strain (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 from China led to a global pandemic. The lack of herd immunity against this virus and the possibility of viral spread from asymptomatic individuals is still a major challenge for the prevention of viral transmission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of the virus in different bodily secretions as a potential source of viral spread among patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Cross Sectional Study. The study included 38 COVID-19 patients with a positive real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test result for SARS-CoV-2, obtained from the combined nasopharyngeal-oropharyngeal swab samples. Saliva, tear, and cerumen samples were taken from the patients within 72 hours of the first RT-PCR test. SARS-CoV-2 N1 and N2 gene regions were studied with single-step RT-PCR in all samples. Among the studied samples, the highest positivity rate was in saliva (76.3%) followed by tears (55.3%) and cerumen (39.5%). Viral load in saliva was also significantly higher compared to tears and cerumen (P < .001), while there was no significant difference between tears and cerumen. Higher viral load in combined nasopharyngeal-oropharyngeal swab samples was associated with higher viral load in tears, but not in saliva or cerumen. Half of the saliva, tear, and cerumen samples obtained from asymptomatic patients contained SARS-CoV-2 genome. The virus was detected in the saliva, tears, and cerumen samples of both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The potential role of these bodily fluids on viral spread needs to be studied. 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E1677-E1682, 2021.

Hanege FM ，Kocoglu E ，Kalcioglu MT ，Celik S ，Cag Y ，Esen F ，Bayindir E ，Pence S ，Alp Mese E ，Agalar C ... -  《-》

Minipool testing for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in United States blood donors.

SARS-CoV-2 RNA prevalence in blood donors from large geographic areas of high community transmission is limited. We tested residual donor plasma minipools (MPs) to determine SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia prevalence in six United States areas. Blood donations collected from 7 March 2020 to 25 September 2020 were tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA (vRNA) in MP of 6 or 16 donations using the Grifols Procleix SARS-CoV-2 research-use only (RUO) transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) assay. Reactive results were confirmed using an alternate target region TMA assay. Reactive MPs were tested by TMA after serial dilution to estimate viral load. Testing for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and infectivity was performed. A total of 17,995 MPs corresponding to approximately 258,000 donations were tested for vRNA. Three confirmed reactive MP16 were identified. The estimated prevalence of vRNA reactive donations was 1.16/100,000 (95% CI 0.40, 3.42). The vRNA-reactive samples were non-reactive for antibody, and the estimated viral loads of the (presumed single) positive donations within each MP ranged from <1000 to <4000 copies/ml. When tested, no infectivity was observed in inoculated permissive cell cultures. Blood donation MP-nucleic acid testing (NAT) indicated that SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia is infrequent and, when detected, the vRNA was at low concentrations. Only one RNA-reactive MP could be tested for infectivity for operational reasons and was not infectious in cell culture. These findings support current recommendations from international and national regulatory agencies to not screen donors by NAT.

Bakkour S ，Saá P ，Groves JA ，Montalvo L ，Di Germanio C ，Best SM ，Grebe E ，Livezey K ，Linnen JM ，Strauss D ，Kessler D ，Bonn M ，Green V ，Williamson P ，Kleinman S ，Stramer SL ，Stone M ，Busch MP ，NHLBI Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study-IV-Pediatric (REDS-IV-P) ... -  《-》