A retrospective study on seroprevalence of Transfusion Transmitted Infections in blood donors at Dhiraj Hospital, Vadodara

Abstract

Background: Transfusion of blood and its components help in saving lives but it can also be a life-threateninghazard. Prevention of transmission of infectious diseases through blood transfusion in developing countriesis difficult, since the resources available are limited.Methods and Material: A retrospective study was undertaken to determine the seroprevalence of TTIamong the blood donors who donated blood to Dhiraj Hospital Blood Bank between January 2015 andDecember 2019.The TTI reports of the donors was obtained from the blood donor data records.Each blood unit was tested by ELISA method for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C virus. Syphilis was testedby Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) card test. Malaria was tested by antigen rapid diagnostic test.As is the practice in the Blood Bank, all positive samples were subject to repeat test for confirmation, beforethe seropositive blood unit is discardedThe information extracted from the Dhiraj Hospital blood bank database also included donor Id, Age, Sex,Residential address, donation type, donation frequency.Results: The data analysed in the study consisted of a total 20,711 blood donations, of which 2728 (13.1%)were voluntary and 18,288 (86.9%) were replacement donation.The seroprevalence rate of HIV was 0.1, that of HBV was 1.4, HCV 0.1, syphilis was 0.5 and Malaria was0.3 among all the blood donors. The TTIs were more frequently found in replacement donors in comparisonto volunteer donors.Conclusions:Ø The prevalence of TTI is higher in replacement blood donors than voluntary blood donors, hencecollection of blood from replacement donors should be at least reduced, if not totally eliminated.Ø Stringent criteria need to be used for selection of blood donors.Ø Potential Voluntary blood donors need to be identified and motivated to donate blood regularly.