Implications of Dengue Outbreaks for Blood Supply, Australia

Abstract

Dengue outbreaks have increased in size and frequency in Australia, and transfusion-transmitted dengue poses a risk to transfusion safety. Using whole blood samples collected during the large 2008–2009 dengue epidemic, we estimated the risk for a dengue-infectious blood donation as ≈1 in 7,146 (range 2,218–50,021).

Keywords

• Dengue virus
• Australia
• blood donor
• sero-prevalence
• asymptomatic
• risk