New test for blood donors after international travel

12:30am Wednesday 28th March 2012 in News

A test for West Nile Virus (WNV) will be introduced for certain blood donors in England and North Wales, from may 1.

Blood from donors who have returned from countries where WNV is prevalent will be tested, meaning immediate donation will be allowed by people who may have visited an affected country.

Previously donors had to wait 28 days before donating, after returning from a country where WNV is endemic.

These include the USA, Canada, Italy, mainland Greece, Romania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, Israel and some areas of Russia.

Welcoming the change, Dr Lorna Williamson, Medical & Research Director for NHS Blood and Transplant said: “Ensuring the safety and sufficiency of the blood supply is a priority.

“Testing for WNV ensures the risk of the infection is removed, while helping to keep blood stocks more stable over the summer months.

“This is particularly important this year, with the extra Bank Holiday and Olympics, so we would urge donors to try and attend when invited.”

Tests will be carried out on donations during the risk period, may 1 and November 30 when less than four weeks have passed since the donor’s return from an area where WNV is endemic.

West Nile Virus is spread by mosquitoes and was first recognised in 1937 in Uganda.

it emerged in new York in 1999 and in 2002, transfusion transmitted cases were reported in the USA.

by 2003, 46 US states were reporting human cases and the UK blood services began to defer donors returning from North America.

During the intervening years, WNV has been reported in a growing number of countries in Europe. Currently there is no vaccine and the best way to prevent infection is to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.

For most people, WNV infection will produce no symptoms or result in mild flu-like symptoms.

however for a small number, infection could result in a more severe form of the disease which could result in death for those with a poor immune system, for example small babies or patients who have received stem cell transplants.

Donor acceptance guidelines ensure not only that donated blood is safe for patients but also that donating blood is safe for donors. They are regularly reviewed and revised when necessary.

other recent changes include an amendment to the donor guidelines to reduce the risk of faints, which are significantly more common in younger women.

Research has shown that a blood loss of 15 per cent of estimated blood volume can result in shock.

using a donor’s weight and height to estimate blood volume and only allow donation from those not thought to be at risk, will help to remove this risk.

more News stories

Men and women in the lowest income bracket are three times more likely than those in the highest income bracket to have kidney disease and to smoke. the disparity in health between England’s richest and poorest is particularly marked amongst women, with those in the lowest income bracket four times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and twice as likely to be obese than women in the highest income bracket.

Vasant Hirani, Senior Research Fellow in UCL’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, and co-editor of the study, said: “This important survey provides an annual health check for the nation, and shows that there are still marked inequalities in health between different socio-economic groups. there is a clear social gradient, with people with lower incomes much more likely to experience poor health than those that are more affluent. We need to reduce inequalities and improve health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable groups in our society – a real challenge in the current economic climate.”

Rachel Craig, Research Director at the National Centre for Social Research, and co-editor of the study added: “The Health Survey for England gives us an excellent picture of how health changes over time, allowing us to accurately monitor the problem areas of health inequality in Britain today. As the coalition takes a new approach to public health during a time of high satisfaction levels in the NHS it will be vital to monitor how outcomes develop. in particular, it will be interesting to see how successful the government plans are to ‘nudge’ people towards making healthy lifestyle choices.”

Key measures of health covered by the latest report include:

Kidney disease

The Health Survey this year provides the first national picture of chronic kidney disease. Results show that between 5% and 10% of adults have symptoms of kidney damage, although only around 2% report a doctor’s diagnosis of kidney disease.

Three times as many men in the lowest income bracket have kidney disease than men in the highest income bracket (2.4% compared with 0.8%) and nearly three times as many women in the lowest income bracket (1.4%) than women in the highest income bracket (0.5%).

Diabetes

Overall, 9% of men and 6% of women aged 35 and over reported doctor-diagnosed diabetes. the biggest disparity in prevalence is between women in the highest and lowest income brackets. Women in the lowest income bracket are much more likely to suffer from diabetes (8%) in comparison with women in the highest income bracket (2%). Amongst men the prevalence rate is lowest for those in the highest income bracket (7%) and highest for men in the middle income bracket (11%).

Adult obesity

Obesity has been on the rise for 20 years but we are beginning to see the trend is slowing down. however nearly 2 in 3 men and women in Britain are overweight, with 22% of men obese and 44% overweight . 24% of women are obese and 33% overweight.

Women in the lowest income bracket are twice as likely to be obese, with a 33% prevalence rate for this group in comparison with 17% of women in the highest income bracket. this is important because being overweight increases a person’s risk of developing health problems such as heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and some types of cancer.

Smoking

For both men and women, smoking prevalence was around three times higher among those from the lowest income households (40% for men and 34% for women) than among those living in the highest income households (14% for men and 11% for women).

Alcohol consumption

In contrast to other health measures, alcohol consumption is one area where lifestyles are less healthy among the better off. Men and women in the highest income bracket were most likely to have drunk alcohol in the last week (86% and 72% respectively); the proportion that had drunk in the last week declined in line with income, so that just 54% of men and 47% of women in the lowest income bracket had drunk alcohol in the last week. Men and women in the highest two income brackets were also more likely than others to have drunk alcohol on five or more days in the week.

Fruit and vegetable consumption

Adults in the higher income brackets were more likely than those in the lower income brackets to eat the recommended five or more portions per day: 32% of men and 37% of women in the highest bracket did so, compared with 18% and 19% respectively in the lowest bracket.

Longstanding illness

Both men and women in the highest income bracket were less likely to report a longstanding illness than those in the lowest income bracket (38% of men and 37% of women in the highest income group compared with 49% of men and 52% of women in the lowest income group). Examples of longstanding illness include asthma, diabetes, arthritis and stroke.

Self-reported general health and acute sickness

Both men and women in the lowest income bracket were most likely to consider their health as bad or very bad (18% of men and 15% of women compared with 3% of men and 2% of women in the highest income bracket). Men and women in the lowest income bracket were most likely to have cut down on the things they usually did in the last two weeks because of illness or injury (17% of men and 23% of women compared, with 10% of men and 12% of women in the highest income bracket).

The issue of diabetes is front and centre around the UAE at the moment. in Khaleej Times?s wknd. magazine Wasim Akram recently spoke about his battle with the disease, showing that it can affect everyone, even sports stars. in Dubai, the Beat Diabetes Walkathon on November 12 attracted over 7,500 people, scheduled just ahead of World Diabetes Day on November 14.

Now it’s the turn of Abu Dhabi to raise awareness about the ‘silent killer’ with the Walk UAE 2010 walkathon taking place on November 26 around Yas Marina Circuit. with so much publicity surrounding issues of diagnosing, avoiding and beating diabetes, it’s a wonder the disease is still on the rise, but it is — particularly in Gulf countries.

Walk UAE 2010 is now into its fourth year as it tries to battle the growing problem. Run in conjunction with Imperial College London Diabetes Centre (ICLDC), this year organisers aim to equal or beat the 10,000 turnout they saw in 2009.

Dr Maya Taysir Barakat is the medical research director and consultant endocrinologist at ICLDC, from where she told Khaleej Times more about the walkathon event and the mysterious disease itself.

If you are predisposed to diabetes, you can reduce your risk of developing it by up to 58 per cent simply by following a healthy lifestyle with regular physical activity such as brisk walking.

Walk UAE has proven to be a great way for us to get the message across to the community; indeed the tag line is ‘Start Walking; Live Healthily.’

The numbers speak volumes: over the past four years, through the public health awareness campaign, ICLDC has offered diabetes prevention, education and treatment to more than 90,000 people, and more than 20,000 people have joined one or more of the Walkathons. the number of people seeking medical care for diabetes, or for symptoms that may be related to diabetes, is increasing. we are pleased that people feel comfortable approaching physicians; if caught early, diabetes can be managed, and 
even prevented.

The key to the prevention of type 2 diabetes, even in those with predisposing genes, is to maintain a normal body weight and to exercise regularly, for instance by a 30-minute brisk walk a day. the Walkathon is just one way to show the community that a five-kilometre walk can be fun for the family!

Recent figures from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) suggest that 285 million people are living with diabetes, worldwide. Indeed, five GCC countries feature in the top eight countries in terms of diabetes prevalence as a percentage of the population.

In the UAE, diabetes currently affects 18.7 per cent of the UAE adult population, the second highest prevalence worldwide after the Pacific Ocean island of Nauru. These statistics indicate that the region has high risk factors for diabetes, mostly 
related to rising obesity rates and physical inactivity.

A sedentary lifestyle and an increasingly unhealthy diet have contributed to the rise in obesity, which have fuelled diabetes prevalence in the region. It is important that we stay focused on educating region-wide populations on management and indeed prevention 
of diabetes.

The issue of taxation of unhealthy food (in particular sugar-sweetened soft drinks) has been extensively studied internationally, and indeed has been implemented in some areas around the world. Policies that encourage people to eat healthier, exercise more and lead active lifestyles will help build public momentum.

Obesity in children is known to increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease in adulthood. recent statistics show that childhood obesity is also increasing at an alarming rate. North America, Mexico, Spain, Italy and several countries in the GCC (including the UAE) have childhood overweight (including obesity) rates in excess of 30 per cent. It is this rise in childhood obesity that is responsible for the  increase of type 2 diabetes in younger people. Type 2 diabetes has also been reported even in pre-school children.

The most common symptoms relate to feeling thirsty, needing to pass urine frequently, and fatigue. however, one of the biggest challenges with the condition is that frequently there are no symptoms, resulting in a delay 
in diagnosis.

There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 is an auto-immune condition where the pancreas is attacked by auto-antibodies causing it to fail. This necessitates treatment with insulin. On the other hand, type 2 is mainly brought on by an unhealthy, inactive lifestyle and weight gain. in this type of diabetes, there is insulin in the body, but the body becomes resistant to it so the insulin becomes largely ineffective. in recent years, we have seen a (rapid) rise in type 2 diabetes across all age groups.

The Centre is a one-stop, state-of-the-art, out-patient facility that specialises in diabetes treatment, research, training and public health awareness. in the past four years, ICLDC has offered diabetes prevention, education and treatment to more than 90,000 people. for more information visit: icldc.ae