Over 18,600 donations were tested by Héma-Québec in collaboration with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec, and later, with the Government of Canada COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. The approach by the two blood providers differed somewhat. In Canada, there was early strong engagement of blood operators with public health, public health laboratory networks, mathematical modellers and university partners. In the United States, blood operators collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, providing test results routinely. In many countries these studies have continued. In most cases, the blood service was the only entity able to rapidly collect and test large numbers of blood samples from healthy individuals. By June 2020, a short three months after the pandemic was declared, 32 of 48 (67%) countries surveyed had had SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies initiated by blood operators Footnote 3 Footnote 4. Blood services around the world capitalized on their infrastructure to quickly start seroprevalence studies to inform public health policy. Both blood services initiated and continue to undertake severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serosurveillance Footnote 1 Footnote 2. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 heralded a new role for blood services In this commentary, we discuss the role of the blood services in public health surveillance to date and propose that this role be expanded. Applied research is a high priority and both organizations have independent epidemiology and surveillance departments as well as research and development/innovation departments that primarily focus on blood safety and informing blood service policy. The scope of activities of blood providers has further developed into stem cell registries, umbilical cord-blood banking, human milk banking, tissue banking and coordinating organ transplantation (roles vary by blood supplier). Formed in 1998 in the aftermath of the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada (Krever Commission) into transfusion-transmitted HIV, the blood providers operate at arms-length of government to ensure autonomy. Héma-Québec serves Québec, and Canadian Blood Services serves the other nine provinces and the three territories. Two publicly funded blood services provide Canadians with fresh and fractionated blood products. Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec are actively seeking to engage with public health professionals to further develop a role in public health surveillance. These include tick-borne infections such as Babesia microti and foodborne infections such as hepatitis E. West Nile virus) populations, and ad hoc studies to monitor transfusion-transmissible infections. HIV, hepatitis C virus) or asymptomatic (e.g. Current blood donor surveillance includes monitoring infectious marker rates in low risk (e.g. With 90% repeat donors, longitudinal sampling is possible. Close to one million blood samples per year could be made available for surveillance. Demographic data, routine infectious disease testing and screening questionnaire data are collected for all donations. Blood donors are a healthy subset of the general population. Together blood suppliers have near-national reach, collecting blood donations nearly every day in all larger cities and many smaller municipalities. We propose that the two Canadian blood suppliers, Héma-Québec and Canadian Blood Services, expand their role in public health surveillance in the post-pandemic period. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic galvanized blood donor seroprevalence studies, which continue to inform public health policy. Keywords: blood donors, surveillance, public health, epidemiology
Canadian blood suppliers: An expanding role in public health surveillance? Can Commun Dis Rep 2022 48(4):124–30. O’Brien SF, Drews SJ, Lewin A, Osiowy C, Drebot MA, Renaud C. Sheila F O’Brien 1,2, Steven J Drews 3,4, Antoine Lewin 5,6, Carla Osiowy 7, Michael A Drebot 7, Christian Renaud 5 Affiliationsġ Epidemiology & Surveillance, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, ONĢ School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ONģ Microbiology, Canadian Blood Services, Edmonton, ABĤ Diagnostic and Applied Microbiology, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, ABĦ Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QCħ National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Suggested citation Volume 48-4, April 2022: First Nations Health OverviewĬanadian blood suppliers: An expanding role in public health surveillance?
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