Profile of Transfusion Transmitted Infections – A Study among Blood Donors

BACKGROUND Transfusion of blood and blood products is an essential component of patient care in various health care settings. Blood is collected from non-remunerated donors. Many infections can spread through the transfusion of blood and blood components. Testing of donor blood for infectious agents prior to transfusion of blood products increases blood safety. Mandatory testing of five transfusion transmitted infections is done prior to transfusion following manufacturer’s instructions and quality specifications. Prevalence study will help the blood transfusion services to select and implement the strategies effectively for blood safety. METHODS This is a descriptive study based on retrospective collection of data from available records. Donor results were recorded and maintained to ensure the traceability of specific donor. The data was collected from the blood donor records and registers pertaining to the 10 year period from 2007 to 2016. Samples seroreactive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, malaria and syphilis were recorded and analysed. RESULTS A total of 1,73,027 donors donated blood during the ten-year period. Of these 1, 65,824 were males and 7203 were females. Male to female ratio was 23:1. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroreactivity is the most common which came to about 419 in this 10-year period with a prevalence rate of 0.24 % or 24 reactive cases in every 10,000 donors. Prevalence rate of Hepatitis C and HIV infection was 0.09 % and 0.035 % respectively. Rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and malaria reactivity was 0.02 %. CONCLUSIONS As safe blood supply is an important strategy of blood transfusion services, newer diagnostic tools should be implemented nationwide to overcome the problems with the window period and to detect infections with variant strains. KEY WORDS Prevalence, Transfusion Transmitted Infections, HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, Syphilis