Screening blood donors for malaria parasite in Sudan

Background: In countries where malaria is endemic, its transmission is a hazard of blood transfusion and could lead to serious if not fatal complications. To assess the likely importance of transfusion induced malaria in Sudan; a descriptive cross sectional facility based study was carried out. Material and Methods: A total number of 1564 blood donors were screened for malaria parasite by thick and thin blood film using Geimsa\' staining technique. All the 397 transfused patients who received the donors\' blood during the study period were investigated for malaria before transfusion by the same technique, followed up for four days after transfusion and reinvestigated, if any signs of malaria were present. Results: Results showed that the prevalence of infected donors was 6.5%, the majority of them were between 20 and 40 years old; the required age for donation. The recognized species were predominantly (98.1%) Plasmodium falciparum and secondly Plasmodium vivax (1.9%). Mainly ring (50.5%) and trophozoite (40.2%) stages were detected, and most of the positive blood films (96.9%) showed densities less than 1000 parasites/µl. Post transfusion malaria (PTM) was observed in 2.9% of the single transfused and in 4.9% of the multiple transfused patients. Conclusion: It was concluded that the infectivity of asymptomatic donors is considerable. Moreover, the exclusion of this percentage minimizes the risk of transfusion-induced malaria and does not affect donation flow. [Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2004;18(2)70-74]