Raji T.K.1, Deepa Narayanan2
BACKGROUND
Blood transfusion is a common life-saving medical procedure, but it may cause
acute and delayed complications. A transfusion transmissible infection (TTI) is any
infection that is transmissible from person-to-person through parenteral
administration of blood or blood products i.e. packed red blood cells (RBC),
platelets, plasma and other blood products. This study was undertaken to assess
the prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections among blood donors in blood
bank connected to a tertiary care hospital in Kerala and evaluate the safety of the
blood donations.
METHODS
Samples of 13,262 donors from January to June 2018 were taken. All the donors
who were accepted for donation as per criteria by national acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) control society were included in the study.
Consent was obtained from blood donors to conduct testing for transfusion
transmitted diseases. Donors were screened by 4th generation enzyme linked
immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) test kits for HIV-1/2, 3rd generation ELISA test kits
for HBsAg and hepatitis C virus (HCV), rapid immunochromatographic test for
malaria and rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test for syphilis. Tests were performed as
per manufacturer instructions. All the reactive samples were discarded as per the
guidelines.
RESULTS
Among 13,262 donors, 13,014 (98.12 %) were males and 248 (1.8%) were
females within the age group of 18 - 60 years. Out of these, 7 (0.052%) donors
were HBsAg positive and 3 (0.02%) were HIV positive. RPR reactivity was seen in
2 donors (0.01%) only. None of the blood donors tested showed positivity for HCV
or malarial parasite. In this study, prevalence of hepatitis B was highest (0.052)
followed by HIV (0.02%) and syphilis (0.02%).
CONCLUSIONS
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the most common transfusion transmissible infection
among apparently healthy donors, followed by HIV and syphilis. TTI’s can be
eliminated or reduced by implementing an integrated strategy for blood safety,
like effective selection of blood donors, avoiding unnecessary transfusions, and
early detection of TTIs.
