Author :
Ashwini Kolur, Harish Govind Naik, Samith Ahmed
Volume :
3
Issue :
2
Abstract :
Blood donation is responsible for saving large number of lives but associated with the risk of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs). Screening of TTIs among blood donors can be a cost-effective approach to monitor the prevalence, distribution, and trends of the infections among healthy-looking individuals. The present study was done to estimate the prevalence of infectious disease markers in the donor population of the blood bank of Azeezia Medical College Hospital, Kollam, Kerala.
A total of 1209 donors were screened over two years to assess the prevalence of infectious disease markers. On completion of blood donation, the units were screened for the five commonest TTIs namely HIV I & II, HBsAg, HCV syphilis and malaria.
Out of 1209 blood donors, 1114 (92.14%) were voluntary donors and remaining 95 (7.85%) were replacement donors. 97.26% (1176) were male and only 2.72% (33) were female donors. Out of the total 1209 screened blood units 2 were seropositive for the transfusion transmitted infection and were of HCV.
Two blood units were seropositive for HCV (0.16%) and no other TTI were detected in the screened blood. It can be assumed from the present study that the incidence of the TTI have reduced after mandatory testing of blood units.