Sujata S. Kumbhar1, Surekha K. Chavan2, Sujata R. Kanetkar3, Tasneem V. Bisht4
SUMMARY: Blood transfusion services form an integral part of health care; but simultaneously carries the risk of transmission of transfusion transmissible infections. We conducted a 5yr retrospective cross sectional study to estimate the prevalence of various infectious markers in the blood donors which was found to be 2.04%
INTRODUCTION: Blood safety is a major concern among health care personnel. We undertook this study to assess the prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections (TTI's) namely - HIV, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and Malaria among blood donors from blood bank of a tertiary care hospital, in Western Maharashtra, India.
METHODS: A total of 21,293 blood units were collected from donors. All blood units were screened for HIV, HBs Ag and HCV using ELISA. Test for syphilis was done by Rapid Plasma Reagin card test and peripheral smear examination was done to detect malarial parasite.
RESULTS: A total of 21,293 blood donors were tested, of which 19,940 (93.65%) were voluntary donors and 1,353 (6.35%) were replacement donors. The highest seroprevalence observed was for HBs Ag (1.55%) followed by HIV (0.38%), HCV (0.08%) and Syphilis (0.02%). No donor was found to be positive for malaria parasite
CONCLUSION: Strategies need to be implemented to improve donor selection, using highly sensitive and specific screening tests and a better structured voluntary donation system. Nucleic acid amplification test would help to detect donors in window period for HIV infection. In view of high prevalence, effective community based programs and health education with emphasis on sexually transmitted diseases may prove helpful to decrease the seroprevalence.
