Abstract :
Introduction: For nearly eight decades, the transfusion of blood has been an integral part of medical
practice. Though it is a life saving measure, every transfusion still bears the potential risk of Transfusion
Transmitted Infections.
Aim: To assess the proportion of voluntary and replacement blood donors and to evaluate the prevalence
and trend of various TTIs in a well-established blood bank located in the Eastern part of Bangalore.
Materials and Methods: The data for the current retrospective study was collected over a period of 3 years
and 3 months from October 2015 to December 2018. Donors were screened for anti-HIV 1 and 2, HBsAg,
and anti-HCV, using commercially available third-generation ELISA test kits, while syphilis and malaria
were screened for using card test and rapid malaria test, respectively.
Results: Among 2514 donors, 2411 (95.9%) were voluntary and 103 (4.1%) were replacement donors.
2431(96.7%) were males and 83 (3.3%) were females. Seroprevalence of HIV, HBsAg, anti- HCV, syphilis,
and malaria were 0.24%, 0.83%, 0.27%, 0.04%, and 0.12% among all donors, respectively. Among the
various TTIs, majority of cases were of HBV (55.3%) followed by HCV (18.4%), HIV (15.8%), Malaria
(7.9%) and Syphilis (2.6%).
Conclusion: HBV was the commonest TTI among apparently healthy donors in the present study, followed
by HCV and HIV; 1.5% of healthy donors were seropositive for TTIs. This clearly shows the importance
of stringent screening measures to avert the potential risk of TTIs.
Keyword :
Blood donor, Transfusion transmitted infections, Seroprevalence.