HBsAg

[dalangsfor]

What are your deferral policies for HBsAg?

thanks,

Dana Langsford

Marquette General Health System

U.P. Regional Blood Center

[dalangsfor]

Currently we defer the donor for 8 weeks after the positive screen if the confirmatory is negative. After 8 weeks the donor is drawn and the testing is repeated. If the screen is positive again we defer permanently regardless if the confirmatory is negative. According the the 1987 FDA letter regarding this it sounds like a donor can continue to attempt to donate as long as the confirmatory continues to be negative (if the screen continues to be positive the units need to continue to be discarded). Thanks for any info you can provide.

[David Saikin]

We would defer if the confirmatory is negative. A 2nd non-confirmable would result in a permanent deferral.

[Deb]

I have had 2 donors in the past 20+ years that were absolutely "risk free" and had RR HBsAg Neut Neg (Core Neg) on more than one occasion 8 weeks apart. Upon investigation we (I worked with the company technical rep) concluded it had to do with a mouse in the house. Seriously. Both donor's had seasonal lake cabins and they had recently had to clean out an area that had been quite a playground over the winter for the little furry critters. The HBsAg test is created using a mouse antigen. Conclusion: the donors had formed antibodies to the actual mice they had been exposed to that were close enough to cross react with the test (they weren't very strong reactions). After waiting about a year, we re-tested the donor to be sure we would be using a different lot number as well....voila....all testing was negative. They continue to be negative to this day. We were willing to go the extra mile as these were both >20 gallon donors (q 8 weeks w/o fail)....

[dalangsfor]

wow. That is quite a story. Congratulations on the investigation!

[L106]

Interesting story!