Transfusion Transmissible Diseases – Is There a Decreasing Trend in Recent Years?

Abstract

Introduction: The magnitude of the problem of Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTI) varies in different communities depending on the load of TTI in that particular population. Aim: To find the seroprevalence and trend of TTIs among the blood donors in a local community in Southern India. Materials and Methods: The data of donors who were screened in the blood bank of a tertiary care hospital for TTI including HIV, HBV, HCV, Syphilis (VDRL) and Malarial parasite for a period of 4 years from January 2012 to December 2015 was collected. Both voluntary and replacement donors were included. Results: Out of total 8136 donors, 2.91% of the blood donors (0.85% of voluntary donors and 2.06% of the replacement donors) were positive for any of the TTIs. The seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria among voluntary donors was 0%, 0.79%, 0.02%, 0.04% and 0% respectively and among replacement donors was 0.06%, 1.49%, 0.11%, 0.36% and 0.04% respectively. None of them had co-infections. Conclusion: The seroprevalence rate of TTI in our study is generally less than that of other studies from various parts of globe. The seroprevalence rate of HIV in our study is 0 among voluntary donors and is very negligible among replacement donors. None of the donors had co-infections. There is a generalized reducing trend of TTI because of increase in public awareness through social media and organizations.

Keywords

• blood donor
• blood transfusion
• donor awareness
• donor screening
• seroprevalence