Are We Missing West Nile Virus in Turkish Blood Donors?

Objective: In countries with the West Nile virus (WNV) presence, blood bank screen donated blood for WNV to reduce contamination risk. Despite surveillance studies in Turkey, which is currently a sporadic region for WNV, it remains unclear whether routine WNV screening is necessary. The aim of this study was to investigate whether WNV screening is necessary in Turkey by analyzing WNV seropositivity in blood donors (BD) in Istanbul, which houses more than one-fifth of the country's population. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional research was conducted between April 2020 and December 2020 as a joint study by the University of Health Sciences Turkey, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital and University of Health Sciences Turkey, Sisli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. A total of 552 healthy BDs who applied to the blood center of these two hospitals and accepted participation were included in the study. Results: Among the donors, 522 were male and 30 were female, and the median age of the volunteers was 37 (range 22-61) years. The city of residence was Istanbul 507 (91.8%) volunteers, while 45 (8.2%) lived in other cities. The initial WNV immunoglobulin G (IgG) results of 528 (95.7%) volunteers were negative and 24 (4.3%) were equivocal. Tests with equivocal results were repeated and all repeat tests showed negativity. Conclusion: We did not detect WNV IgG positivity in any BD participating in our study. Our results demonstrate that WNV screening is unnecessary in Turkey. However, to prevent contamination risks, such studies must be conducted and repeated frequently after the emergence of sporadic diseases that can be transmitted by blood.