Official Journal of the British Blood Transfusion Society Transfusion Medicine | ORIGINAL ARTICLE Seroprevalence and factors associated with IgG anti-DENV positivity in blood donors in Burkina Faso during the 2016 dengue outbreak and implications for blood supply S. Sawadogo, 1,2 A. Baguiya, 3 F. Yougbare, 2 B. W. Bicaba, 4 K. Nebie, 1,2 T. Millogo, 5 I. Kamba, 1 L. Kaba, 2 L. Sangare, 1 E. Kafando 1 & V. Deneys 6 1 Joseph KI-ZERBO University, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2 National Blood Transfusion Center, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 3 Research Institute of Health Sciences, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 4 Center for Emergency Response Operations, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 5 African Institute of Public Health, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and 6 CHU UCL Namur – Site de Sainte-Elisabeth, Namur, Belgium Received 13 February 2019; accepted for publication 7 October 2019 SUMMARY Objectives: Our study aimed to update the seroprevalence and factors associated with anti-dengue virus (DENV) antibody pos- itivity among blood donors and to discuss their implications for blood supply. Background: Questions on the potential transmission of DENV by transfusion increased afer the documentation of the risk of transmission of the West Nile virus. Tis risk was estimated afer transfusion of DENV RNA-positive blood units of up to 37·5%. In Burkina Faso, very few studies on DENV in blood donors have been conducted. As a result, there were no reliable data on DENV to allow the implementation of appropriate measures to control the risk of transmission of the dengue virus by blood transfusion. Methods: We conducted a 4-week cross-sectional study from December 4 to 30, 2016. Blood donors of both genders, aged 18–60 years, accepted for blood donation afer medical selection were consecutively enrolled. Results: Our study included a total of 1007 blood donors, in which donors living in urban areas represented 78·2%. Te mean age was 26·1 ± 8·1 years. Afer adjustment in a multiple regres- sion logistic model, the odds of having IgG anti-DENV increased as age increased. Te odds of DENV was 53% lower in rural areas (OR = 0·47; P = 0·000) compared to urban settings and 42% lower in mobile sites (OR = 0·58; P = 0·03) compared to fxed ones. Conclusion: Our study provides new and useful insights for future research on the risk of TT-DENV throughout blood transfusion. Key words: anti-DENV antibodies, blood donation, dengue, transfusion-transmitted infections. Correspondence: Salam Sawadogo, 01 BP 865 Ouagadougou 01, Burkina Faso. Tel.: +226 70032776; fax: +226 25307242; e-mail: salemserein@hotmail.com Globally, dengue infections constitute a signifcant public health burden. Nearly two-thirds of the global population is at risk (Jahan et al., 2016), mainly in African, Asian and American inter-tropical developing countries. In the last half century, the prevalence of the dengue virus (DENV) has increased dramatically (up to 30%) worldwide (Messina et al., 2014; Pozzetto et al., 2015), especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (Wilder-Smith et al., 2009; Amarasinghe et al., 2011; Were, 2012). In Sub-Saharan Africa, dengue fever represents an added underestimated burden to an infectious disease landscape dominated by malaria (Messina et al., 2014; Ridde et al., 2014, 2016). In this context, febrile illnesses, including dengue, are likely to be misdiagnosed and treated as malaria. Tis nega- tively impacts the knowledge of dengue fever epidemiology (Wilder-Smith et al., 2013). Te frst dengue epidemic known in Burkina Faso occurred in 1925 (Amarasinghe et al., 2011). Since then, a signifcant num- ber of cases was reported in the 1980s (Gonzales et al., 1985), in the 2000s (Franco et al., 2010) and, more recently, during the 2013 and 2015 outbreaks (Ridde et al., 2014, 2016; Tar- nagda et al., 2014; Eldin et al., 2016). In 2016, Burkina Faso experienced another dengue outbreak. Te majority of cases (82·3%) were recorded in Ouagadougou (Tarnagda et al., 2018). Tis recent rapid expansion throughout the world and in Burk- ina Faso is associated with factors such as rampant population growth, unplanned urbanisation and the circulation of people and goods (Ridde et al., 2016). Te asymptomatic and subclinical cases, estimated at around 50–85% of DENV infections, constitute the main concern regarding transfusion safety as symptomatic cases are assumed to be rejected at the pre-donation screening (Tsai et al., 2018). Previous studies reported the presence of DENV in blood donors in Honduras, Brazil, Australia (Linnen et al., 2008), Puerto Rico (Petersen et al., 2012; Stramer et al., 2012) and Saudi Arabia (Ashshi, 2015, 2017). Viraemic donor rate may be as high as 0·4% during outbreaks (Sabino et al., 2016), with a © 2019 British Blood Transfusion Society doi: 10.1111/tme.12646