ArticleTropical medicine & international health : TM & IH2025
Leprosy in blood donors.
Article in Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- UndetectableOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Leprosy in blood donors.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesWe investigated the prevalence of anti-phenolic glycolipid-I (PGL-I) IgM antibodies among temporarily unfit blood donors at the Pará State Blood Bank (HEMOPA), located in the Amazon region of northern Brazil. Using an arbitrary high cutoff for optical density (OD ≥0.750) in ELISA, a subset of donors was invited for clinical evaluation for leprosy.
methodsTemporarily unfit individuals were invited to participate, and blood samples were collected for anti-PGL-I IgM titration by ELISA. Donors with high OD values were referred for clinical examination, slit skin smear (SSS) bacilloscopy, and quantitative PCR (qPCR) targeting M. leprae-specific repetitive element (RLEP) sequences from dermal scrapes of the earlobes and peripheral blood.
resultsFrom an annual average of 2762 temporarily unfit donors (2019-2023), 500 (16.6%) were tested for anti-PGL-I IgM. Of these, 20/500 (4.0%) had high antibody titres, and 8/20 (40.0%) attended clinical evaluation, resulting in 5/8 (62.5%) newly diagnosed cases of leprosy. Among these, Mycobacterium leprae detection yielded positivity rates of 2/8 (25.0%) by SSS bacilloscopy, 3/7 (42.9%) by qPCR of dermal scrapes, and 2/8 (25.0%) by qPCR of peripheral blood.
conclusionsUsing an anti-PGL-I IgM cutoff of OD ≥0.750, we identified a significant proportion of undiagnosed leprosy cases among temporarily unfit blood donors. These findings support the need for targeted leprosy screening in this population. Regardless of qPCR results, individuals with clinical signs of leprosy require appropriate treatment and assessment of their eligibility for blood donation.
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