West Nile Virus positivity amongst Canadian blood donors and effectiveness of off‐season screening
Between 2018 and 2023, WNV-NAT positivity amongst Canadian blood donors remained stable, with no evidence of an increasing positivity trend. The utility of off-season travel-related testing may be limited, as no donors were identified during the six-year study timeframe. Finally, confirmation testing using WNV-specific PCR is recommended to identify true cases and to limit misidentification of other genetically similar viruses, such as JEV.
Authors
- Kai Makowski
- Carmen L. Charlton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9129-5136)
- Steven J. Drews (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2519-1109)
- Gordon Hawes
- Sheila F. O’Brien (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5332-2789)
- Heidi Wood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4596-7349)
- Alyssia Robinson
- Mark Bigham
- Cynthia Cranney
Institutions
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Public Health Agency of Canada (CA)
- Canadian Blood Services (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Transfusion
- Published
- 2025-06-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/trf.18326
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Mosquito-borne diseases and control
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.76
Funders
- Public Health Agency of Canada
- Canadian Blood Services