SEROPREVALENCE OF TRANSFUSION TRANSMISSIBLE INFECTIONS IN BLOOD DONORS: A THREE YEAR EXPERIENCE

Transfusion Transmissible Infections in Donors

Abstract

Objective: To determine seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) in blood donors and to compare the present results with the data from studies conducted in past. Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT), Rawalpindi from January 2010 to December 2012. Material and Methods: All the blood donors who had donated blood at AFIT during the three year study period were included. Prior to blood donation at the institute, all the donors were subjected to a preset, structured questionnaire to determine their eligibility for donation as per the criteria set by the institute. Donors’ serum samples were screened for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and syphilis by using HBsAg, anti-HCV, HIV antigen-antibody combination assay and syphilis antibody test, respectively. The repeatedly reactive samples were considered as true reactive. Results: A total 160552 blood donors were screened during the study period. The mean age of the donors was 29 ± 10.2 years (Range: 18 - 60 years). Out of these, 158144 (98.5%) were male donors and 2408 (1.5%) were female donors. 7385 (4.6 %) donors were volunteer and 153167 (95.4%) donors the replacement donors. The seroprevalence of TTIs in the donors for HBV, HCV, HIV and syphilis was 2385 (1.48%), 4194 (2.61%), 26 (0.02%) and 1520 (0.95%), respectively. The seroprevalence of HBV was higher and statistically significant (p value<0.05) in Gp-II (31-45 years) and the seroprevalence of both HCV and Syphilis was higher and statistically significant (p value <0.05) in both GP-II (31-45 years) and GP-III (46 years and above) when compared with overall seroprevalence of the respective infections in all age groups. Conclusion: This study highlights that the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV is decreasing in our blood donors, but still it is an important risk factor for spread of these infections. The seroprevalence of HIV is rising gradually in the blood donors.