The Spread of Arboviral Diseases and Blood Transfusion Risk Management: The Case of West Nile, Dengue, and Chikungunya Viruses

Arboviral diseases are spreading rapidly worldwide. This spread is accompanied by the emergence of new transfusion-related risks. This article describes the surveillance and epidemiology of West Nile virus (WNV), dengue, and chikungunya, and discusses their implications for transfusion risk management. Arboviruses are RNA viruses, which makes them highly adaptable. Most of them are zoonotic diseases. Multiple factors influence their transmission, including the viruses themselves, vectors, animal reservoirs, human activities, and environmental factors. In recent years, WNV has established itself and spread throughout North America; the number of dengue cases has skyrocketed worldwide; and large-scale chikungunya epidemics have ravaged the Indian Ocean and Asia. Dengue and chikungunya have demonstrated their ability to be transmitted in temperate zones. All arboviruses are potentially transmissible through transfusion because they can all have an asymptomatic viremic phase. This risk and the preventive measures are well established for WNV. The risk is real but more difficult to quantify for dengue and chikungunya, and the prevention strategy is currently under consideration. In all cases, particularly for donors returning from areas where these viruses circulate, the real-time availability of epidemiological data—provided by several international organizations, notably in Europe and North America—is a valuable aid to decision-making. The goal is to rapidly propose and implement measures tailored to situations that are difficult to predict.

Author(s): Paty MC

Publishing year: 2013

Pages: 165-73

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