Detection of asymptomatic Leishmania donovani in healthy voluntary blood donors.

Abstract

To check incidence of Asymptomatic Leishmania donovani reporting to Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion Rawalpindi. Two thousand (n=2000) consecutive healthy voluntary blood donors were tested for 18s rRNA by Real time Polymerase chain reaction. One thousand (n=1000) subject's permanent resident of Azad Kashmir along with a thousand (n=1000) healthy voluntary blood donors from rest of Pakistan were included. The study was carried out over a period of three months Jun - Aug 2020. Total of 2000 blood donors were enrolled in the study, all were males with age ranging from 16 to 60years. Stratification based on residence, 1000 (50%) resided in the Azad kashmir, 349 (17.45%) were from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, 541 (27.05%) from Punjab mainly residing in Lahore and Multan, 110 (5.5%) were from other cities of Pakistan. Grouping on the basis of age, 55.25% (n=1105) of the donors were 16-25years old, 19.45% (n=389) were in age range of 26-40years old, 15.55% (n=311) were 41-50years old and 9.75% (n=195) 51-60years old. No donor was diagnosed as an asymptomatic carrier. Screening of blood donors for Leishmania donovani is not recommended.