Transfusion-transmitted cytomegalovirus: behaviour of cell-free virus during blood component processing. A study on the safety of labile blood components in Switzerland

Human Cytomegalovirus Seroprevalence Among Blood Donors in the Madinah Region, Saudi Arabia

Background and objective

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a double-stranded DNA virus of the Herpesviridae family, can remain latent for long periods of time. HCMV may cause severe illness in immunocompromised patients and is associated with congenital anomalies. This study aimed to determine the anti-HCMV immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibody seroprevalence among blood-donating Saudi men in the Madinah region.

Methods

A total of 375 blood-donating Saudi men were recruited from the Central Blood Bank in Madinah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and stratified into three age groups: 18-30, 31-40, and 41-61 years. Anti-HCMV IgG and IgM antibody levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to correlate antibody levels with variables.

Results

Most of the tested samples (95.73%, n=356) were positive for anti-HCMV IgG antibodies, but only 1.6% (n=6) were positive for both IgM and IgG antibodies, and all of them belonged to the age groups of 31-40 and 41-61 years. A strong inverse correlation was found between anti-HCMV IgG antibody levels and age (r=−0.51, p<0.0001). Additionally, there was an inverse correlation between anti-HCMV IgG antibody levels and body mass index (BMI) (r=−0.11, p=0.036). No correlations were found between anti-HCMV IgG levels and hemoglobin levels or blood groups of the participants.

Conclusions

Blood-donating Saudi men in Madinah had a high seroprevalence of anti-HCMV IgG antibodies, indicating previous viral exposure. Age and BMI might influence the humoral immunologic memory response against HCMV, which appears to be endemic in Madinah.