Abstract
Africa has the highest prevalence of transfusion transmitted infections. The World Health Organization recommends universal and quality-controlled screening of blood donations for the major transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs): human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and syphilis. Therefore a retrospective study was conducted to assess the effect of strategies in our blood bank to improve blood safety on the seroprevalence of HIV, HCV, HBV and syphilis infections among the donors over a seven year period. Existing data in the blood bank was used to determine number of the blood donors who were infected with HIV, HCV, HBV and syphilis. The test methods used to screen the donors were identified. The trend of prevalence of the transfusion transmitted infections among the blood donors from 2009 to 2015 was also determine. A total of 41,445 blood donors were screened. Voluntary blood donors constituted 11.1% of the donor population. The overall seroprevalence rate for the TTI was 12.3%. The prevalence was highest for HBV (8.5%) followed by HIV (1.8%), HCV (1.4%) and least for syphilis (0.5%) respectively. The infections showed significant inter-year variation (p<.001). A decreasing trend was observed for HBV among the blood donors while increase in prevalence of HIV, HCV and syphilis was observed from 2012 to 2014 and decreased in 2015. The prevalence of syphilis has risen from 0% in 2009 to 0.9% in 2015. The seroprevalence for TTI is high but is less compared to report from a previous study in same blood bank. The increasing infection rate for syphilis and sporadic surges in rates for HIV, HCV may suggest that the selection criteria is not effectively eliminating blood donors with risky lifestyle. There is need to educate the blood donors on avoiding risky lifestyle while also intensifying voluntary blood donor motivation strategy and increase community surveillance of the infections.
Highlights
A transfusion transmissible infection (TTI) could be a virus, bacteria, parasite, or other potential pathogen that can be transmitted through blood transfusion into a recipient
A total of 41,445 who passed the CuSO4 test were screened with rapid tests for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV)
There was a gradual increase in the number of voluntary blood donors from 2009 to 2013 without a proportionate decrease the number of blood donors who were positive for TTIs
Summary
A transfusion transmissible infection (TTI) could be a virus, bacteria, parasite, or other potential pathogen that can be transmitted through blood transfusion into a recipient. The range of infectious agents known to be transmitted through blood transfusion are numerous. In vitro screening for all the organisms is not practicable. Transfusion transmitted infection is a major challenge to the transfusion services all over the world. World health organization recommends a mandatory screening of all blood donors and units for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and syphilis infections. The problem of TTI is directly proportionate to the prevalence of the infection in the blood donor community. The magnitude of the problem varies from country to country
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