Seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV & RPR among cornea donor in the regional institute of ophthalmology

Abstract

Introduction: Donor corneas obtained by eye banks are steadily increasing all over the world. Proper evaluation of donor cornea is critical to the success of cornea transplantation. Objectives: To analyse results of screening test done before corneal tissue transplantation. Methods: Blood samples were collected at the time of enucleation of the eye from 947 consecutive cornea donors. The samples were tested for Antibodies of Human Immunodeficiency virus I & II (HIV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV), and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) & Treponema pallidum. Results: In our study sero-prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV & T. pallidum in eye donors are 1.58%, 0.52%, 0.10 and 0.21% respectively. Conclusion: The study suggests that all the cornea donors should be screened for HIV, HBV, HCV & T. pallidum by serological test like standards followed in Blood banks of India.

Keywords

• screening test
• cornea donors
• serological marker