The human parvovirus B19/human immunodeficiency virus co-infection in healthy eligible voluntary blood donors at the Blood Transfusion National Center in Kinshasa

INTRODUCTION: Parvovirus B19 (PVB19) is one of several viruses transmissible by blood transfusion. Levels of exposure to PVB19 among HIV-infected voluntary blood donors are comparable to those among HIV-negative controls because, in blood donors, the PVB19 infection is transmitted mainly via the respiratory route. Thus, we hypothesize that the seroprevalence of PVB19 in HIV-positive blood donors is equal to the seroprevalence of PVB19 in HIV-negative blood donors. The objective of this study was to compare the seroprevalence of PVB19 between asymptomatic HIV-positive and HIV-negative blood donors. METHODS: A random sample of 360 eligible blood donors were firstly examined for HIV antibodies by using ELISA automaton and so were categorized as HIV-positive donors and HIV-negative donors. Then the two categories of donors were examined for PVB19 IgG and IgM by using ELISA kits. The seroprevalence of PVB19 in HIV-positive donors was compared to that of HIV-negative donors by using chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. All statistical analyzes were performed with SPSS 21. RESULTS: The prevalences of PVB19 IgG and IgM in HIV-positive blood donors were 92.1% (35 of 38) and 44.7% (17 of 38), respectively and those in control group were 89.1% (287 of 322) and 46.3% (149 of 322), respectively. But for both IgG and IgM the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This research confirms our hypothesis: the seroprevalence of PVB19 in HIV-positive blood donors is equal to the seroprevalence of PVB19 in HIV-negative blood donors.