Prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections in blood donors of Pakistan.

Aisha Arshad,Nida Anwar,Mustansir Zaidi,Munira Borhany,Tahir Shamsi,Rehan Ansari,Naveena Fatima,Imran Naseer,Samson Boota

doi:10.1186/s12878-016-0068-2

Abstract

BackgroundTransfusion-transmitted infections threaten the safety of patients requiring blood transfusion, which in turn imposes serious challenges for the availability of safe blood products that are still affordable in health care systems with limited resources. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of transfusion-transmitted infections in blood donors and to evaluate the demographic characteristics of reactive and non-reactive blood donors.MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted at our institute in Karachi, Pakistan. Donors were required to fill a detailed questionnaire and were screened for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Human immunodeficiency viruses, Syphilis and Malaria by ELISA and thick film (malaria).ResultsOf the 16,602 blood donors, 16,557 were males and 45 females (mean age 28.6 ± 2). Nine hundred and seventy three (5.8%) donations were reactive in any screening assay, with 58 (0.35%) donations reacting in more than one assay. The prevalence of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Human immunodeficiency viruses, Syphilis and Malaria was found to be 1.84, 1.7, 0.04, 2.1 and 0.07% respectively. Characteristics among the infections were evaluated and it was found that unmarried donors had a higher chance to be infected by Hepatitis B virus and Syphilis as compared to the other infections. On the other hand, construction workers and married donors were at more risk to be infected by Syphilis rather than the other infections. In case of co-infections, personnel with different occupations and marital status were infected by more than one pathogen.ConclusionA substantial percentage of the blood donor’s harbored transfusion-transmitted infections. Prevention of TTIs should be the main goal right now. There is a need for stringent selection of blood donors with the emphasis on getting voluntary donations and comprehensive screening of donor’s blood for TTIs using standard methods to ensure the safety of blood recipient.

Highlights

Transfusion-transmitted infections threaten the safety of patients requiring blood transfusion, which in turn imposes serious challenges for the availability of safe blood products that are still affordable in health care systems with limited resources
Blood donation saves the lives of millions of people worldwide; the patients are at a potential risk of contracting transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs), which in turn impose serious challenges to the medical providers for the availability of safe and affordable blood products
The present study provides data on the overall seroprevalence of TTIs in blood donors and evaluates the demographic characteristics of seropositive donors

Summary

Introduction

Transfusion-transmitted infections threaten the safety of patients requiring blood transfusion, which in turn imposes serious challenges for the availability of safe blood products that are still affordable in health care systems with limited resources. Blood donation saves the lives of millions of people worldwide; the patients are at a potential risk of contracting transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs), which in turn impose serious challenges to the medical providers for the availability of safe and affordable blood products. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated

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