revbrashematolhemoter.2014;36(5):309–310
Revista
Brasileira
de
Hematologia
e
Hemoterapia
Brazilian
Journal
of
Hematology
and
Hemotherapy
w w w . r b h h . o r g
Editorial
Official
communique:
Chikungunya
virus
-
a
press
release
of
the
Associac¸ão
Brasileira
de
Hematologia,
Hemoterapia
e
Terapia
Celular
regarding
the
safety
of
transfusions
and
transplants
Dante
Langhi
Júnior
∗,
Dimas
Tadeu
Covas,
Celso
Bianco,
Ester
Sabino,
José
Francisco
Comenalli
Marques,
José
Eduardo
Levi,
Nanci
Alves
Salles,
Neiva
Sellan
Lopes
Gonc¸ales,
Simone
Kashima
ComitêdeDoenc¸asInfecciosasTransmitidasporTransfusão,Associac¸ãoBrasileiradeHematologia,HemoterapiaeTerapiaCelular,Riode Janeiro,RJ,Brazil
Thenumber ofcasesofChikungunya an alphavirus
trans-mittedbythemosquitoesAedesaegyptiandAedesalbopictus,
continuestogrow.Theoutbreak beganintheCaribbeanin
December2013anduntilthepresentnearly305,000suspected
caseshavebeenreportedtothePanAmericanHealth
Orga-nization/WorldHealthOrganization(PAHO/WHO).Atotalof
4756 ofthese cases have been confirmed as Chikungunya
infection accordingto acommuniqué issuedonline bythe
PAHO/WHOonJuly3,2014.
TheBrazilianhealthauthoritiesareattentivetothe
evolu-tionofthesituationintheCaribbean,whichisnowconsidered
an epidemic. The Associac¸ão Brasileira de Hematologia e
Hemoterapia(ABHH),throughitsCommitteeon
Transfusion-TransmittedInfectiousDiseases,isvigilant.Accordingtothe
committeethereisnoreasontointroduceanymeasuresyet,
thoughitisstudyingtheevolutionofthesituationandthe
measurestopreventtransmissionbytransfusionand
trans-plantationtakenbyothercountriesduringepidemics.
No cases of Chikungunya transmission have been
describedafterbloodtransfusions,however,thereisconcern
duetothemanysimilaritieswithWestNilevirusanddengue
∗ Correspondingauthorat:HemocentrodaSantaCasadeSãoPaulo,RuaMarquêsdeItu,579,01221-000SãoPaulo,SP,Brazil.
E-mailaddress:dlanghi@uol.com.br(D.LanghiJúnior).
virus,whichhavesimilarroutesoftransmission(mosquitoes
andtransfusion).
Thefirstsignsofthediseasebegintoappearbetween3and
7daysafterthemosquitobite.Theinfectioncauseshighfever,
jointandmusclepain,rash,andheadache.Thediseaserarely
causesdeath,butjointpaincanlastformonthsorevenyears
insomecases.
Thereisnospecifictreatmentorvaccinetoprevent
infec-tionwiththisvirus,whichmostoftenaffectsunder1-year-old
children, adults over 65 years ofage and individuals with
chronicdiseasessuchasdiabetes,andhypertension.
Therewere260,000clinicalcasesofChikungunyaina
pop-ulationof770,000duringanepidemicthatoccurred onthe
FrenchislandofLaRéunionintheIndianOceanin2006.At
thattime,theFrenchgovernmentsuspendedbloodcollections
andsentpackedredbloodcellsfromFrance.Plateletswere
col-lectedlocallybyapheresisandtreatedtoinactivatepathogens
priortotransfusion.
In 2007, a small outbreak occurred in the region of
Emilia-Romagna, Italy. As inLa Réunion, blood collections
weresuspendedintheaffectedareaandbloodcomponents
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bjhh.2014.07.019
1516-8484/©2014Associac¸ãoBrasileiradeHematologia,HemoterapiaeTerapiaCelular.PublishedbyElsevierEditoraLtda.Allrights
310
revbrashematolhemoter.2014;36(5):309–310were importedfrom unaffectedregions. Recently European
countrieshaveintroducedquestionsfordonorselectionabout
possiblecontact with the disease; donors who visited any
affectedregionaredeferredfor28days.Itisimportanttonote
thatthemeasuresweretakenafewweeksafterthestartof
theepidemicandnocasesoftransmissionwererecorded.
TheABHH remainsvigilantbymonitoringthespread of
Chikungunyavirus.Sofar,ithasnotspreadwithinBrazil;as
todate(7/7/2014)thereareonly17casesofsuspected
Chikun-gunyafeverisolatedinspecificregionsofthecountry.Ofthese,
onlytwocaseswereconfirmedinRiodeJaneiro.
