National Journal of Laboratory Medicine (Oct 2015)
Seroprevalence and Trends of Transfusion Transmissible Infections among Blood Donors at A Tertiary Care Referral Teaching Hospital in Southern India
Abstract
Introduction: Blood transfusion is a life-saving measure in emergencies and is important for the medical treatment of every patient. Among all adverse effects of transfusion, transfusion transmitted infections (TTI) are very important. Accurate estimations on risk of TTI are needed, in order to monitor the safety of the blood supply. Aim: The objective of the present study is to analyze the seroreactivity for TTI of apparently healthy blood donors. Study Design: It is a retrospective cross sectional analytical study carried out in the Department of Transfusion Medicine at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati; Andhra Pradesh State, a tertiary care teaching hospital from January 2009 to December 2014. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 41,942 blood donors. All blood donors were screened for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by using the appropriate enzymelinked immunosorbent assay and reactive donors were retested using a standard immunochromatographic technique. Malarial antigen testing was carried by rapid diagnostic device, which was based on immunochromatographic technique. The rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test was used for estimation of syphilis infection. Results: A total of 41,942 blood donors were screened during the study period, of which 40,718 (97.1%) were males and 1,224 (2.9%) were females. The overall seroprevalence of TTI were 3.5% among these HIV, HBV and HCV were 0.7%, 2.3% and 0.4% respectively; for malaria and syphilis, the seroprevalence was estimated to be 0.02% and 0.05% respectively. Conclusion: The risk of TTI remains despite of serological testing because of donors window period. Steps should be under taken to prevent these transmissions by careful selection of potential blood donors through a health history questionnaire and create opportunities for self-deferral.
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