Major Transfusion-transmissible Infections Research Articles

Seroprevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV infections in blood donors in voluntary and replacement donors in a tertiary care hospital in Western Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: 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. The magnitude of transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI) varies from country to country depending on TTI’s load in that particular population. The present study was undertaken to determine the relative proportion of voluntary donors (VDs) and replacement donors (RDs) and also, to estimate and compare the seroprevalence and changing trends of TTIs amongst VDs and RDs in a tertiary care medical hospital in north India. Methods: This retrospective study was based on the records of all voluntary and replacement donations whichwere collected from January 2016to August 2018 in atertiary care medical college and hospital in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India. Results:Of the total 7908 donations, 2268 (28.6%) were voluntary and 5640 (71.4%) werereplacement donation. The overall seroprevalence of TTI was 158 (1.9%) out of total 7908 donations, with prevalence ofhepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), were 1.0, 0.8 and 0.1 percent, respectively. Furthermore, the TTIs were more frequently encountered in RDs in comparison to VDs. Conclusions: The potential risk of TTIS can be curtailed to a large extent by increasing in public awareness regarding voluntary blood donation, donor screening using stringent criteria, counselling anduse of highly sensitive and specific tests.

A Seven Year Review of the Seroprevalence of Transfusion Transmitted Infections in a Hospital Based Blood Bank in Ibadan, Nigeria

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.

The use of rapid diagnostic tests for transfusion infectious screening in Africa: a literature review.

Infectious risk associated with blood transfusion remains a major public health challenge in Africa, where prevalence rates of the major transfusion-transmissible infections (ie, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, human immunodeficiency virus, and syphilis) are among the highest in the world. Resource-limited blood services often operate with minimal predonation screening safeguards, prompting exclusive reliance on laboratory testing to mitigate infectious risk. Transfusion screening with rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) has been adopted in areas that lack the capacity to support the routine use of more sophisticated technologies. However, uncertainty surrounding the performance of some RDTs in the field has spurred debate regarding their application to blood donation screening. Our review of the literature identified 17 studies that evaluated RDTs for the infectious screening of blood donors in Africa. The review highlights the variable performance of available RDTs and the importance of their use in a quality-assured manner. Deficiencies in performance observed with some RDTs underscore the need to validate test kits prior to use under field conditions with locally acquired samples. Suboptimal sensitivities of some available tests, specifically hepatitis B virus rapid assays, question their suitability in single-test algorithms, particularly in high-prevalence regions. Although RDTs have limitations, many of which can be addressed through improved training and quality systems, they are frequently the only viable option for infectious screening in resource-poor African countries. Therefore, additional studies and specific guidelines regarding the use of RDTs in the context of blood safety are needed.

Prevalence and Trend of Major Transfusion-Transmissible Infections among Blood Donors in Western China, 2005 through 2010

BackgroundThe prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) in blood donations is important for evaluating blood safety and potential risks to the population. This study investigated the prevalence of TTIs among blood donors in Western China and suggested measures for policy-makers.MethodsThe screening results of 66,311 donations between 2005 and 2010 from a central blood center in Western China were analyzed. The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphilis infections were expressed in percentages for the entire study group as well as groups by demographic characteristics and donation frequency, with differences analyzed using Fisher's exact or Chi-square test. Logistic regression was performed to identify the influencing factors of the detected results.Results1,769 (2.67%, 95% CI 2.55–2.79%) of the donated blood had serological evidence of infection with at least one pathogen and 44 (0.07%, 95% CI 0.05–0.09%) showed evidence of multiple infections. The seroprevalence of HBV, HCV, HIV, and syphilis infections was 0.87% (95% CI 0.80–0.94%), 0.86% (95% CI 0.79–0.93%), 0.31% (95% CI 0.26–0.35%), and 0.70% (95% CI 0.64–0.76%) respectively. Trend analysis for the prevalence of TTIs showed a significant increase from 2.44% to 3.71% (χ2 = 100.72, p = 0.00) over this 6-year period. The positive rates for TTIs varied along demographic lines. The top three risk factors in test-positive donors were identified as age, education level and donation frequency. The older age group and lower educated group were linked to a higher prevalence of TTIs. A decreasing prevalence was associated with an increasing frequency of blood donations (χ2 = 562.78, p = 0.00).ConclusionsHepatitis B and C were found most, and often in conjunction with syphilis. These were the primary threats to blood safety. The high positivity rate and the increasing prevalence of TTIs among blood donors in Western China call for further actions.

Seroprevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections and evaluation of the pre-donation screening performance at the Provincial Hospital of Tete, Mozambique

BackgroundThe 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. The study objectives were to determine the seroprevalence of these TTIs among blood donors at the Provincial Hospital of Tete, Mozambique, and to assess the local pre-donation screening performance.MethodsAll consenting voluntary and replacement candidate blood donors were consecutively included from February to May 2009. Sera of all candidates, independent of deferral by questionnaire, were submitted to screening with quality-assured rapid or simple assays for HIV, HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), HCV and syphilis. Assays locally used by the blood bank for HBV and syphilis screening were run in parallel to quality-assured external assays supplied during the study, and all discordant samples were submitted to confirmation testing in reference laboratories in Mozambique and Belgium.ResultsOf 750 consenting candidates (50.5% of voluntary donors), 71 (9.5%) were deferred by the questionnaire, including 38 specifically because of risk behavior for TTI. Of the 679 non-deferred candidates, 127 (18.7%) had serological confirmation of at least one TTI, with a lower prevalence in voluntary than in replacement donors (15.2% versus 22.4%, p = 0.016). Seroprevalence of HIV, HBsAg and syphilis infections was 8.5%, 10.6 % and 1.2%. No confirmed HCV infection was found. Seroprevalence of TTIs was similar in the 38 candidates deferred for TTI risk as in the non-deferred group, except for HBsAg (26.3 % versus 10.6 %; p = 0.005). The local assays used for HBV and syphilis had sensitivities of 98.4% and 100% and specificities of 80.4% and 98.8% respectively. This resulted in the rejection of 110 of the 679 blood donations (16.2%) because of false positive results.ConclusionsThe seroprevalence of TTIs after questionnaire screening is high in Tete, Mozambique, but HCV infection does not appear as a major issue. The questionnaire did not exclude effectively HIV-infected donor candidates, while the locally used assays led to unnecessary rejection of many safe donations. A contextualized questionnaire and consistent use of quality-assured assays would considerably improve the current screening procedure for blood donation.

Seroprevalence of major blood-borne infections among blood donars at Felege Hiwot referral hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of major transfusion-transmissible infections among blood donors at Felege Hiwot referral hospital, northwest Ethiopia. The overall seroprevalence of major bloodborne pathogens among blood donors was 43.2%, of which HBsAg, anti-HCV IgG, HIV seropositivity and syphilis accounted for 25%, 13.3%, 11.7% and 1.2% respectively. Crude seroprevalence of major blood born pathogens was significantly higher in commercial blood donors (56.6%) compared to voluntary (17.6%) and replacement blood donors (53.6%) (p=0.0001). [Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2007;21(1):68-69]

Trends in Major Transfusion-transmissible Infections among Blood Donors over 17 Years in Istanbul, Turkey

Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and syphilis are serious complications of blood transfusion. These infections are routinely screened by blood banks; such tests are obligatory for transfusion safety in Turkey. The results of screening 1 737 943 blood donations from blood centres in Istanbul between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 2003 for HBV, HCV, HIV and syphilis were analysed retrospectively. Hepatitis B surface antigen rates fell from 5.98% in 1987 to 2.07% in 2003. Anti-HCV seropositivity was found to be approximately 0.5%, whereas anti-HIV seropositivity was approximately 0.001%. Rapid plasma reagin rates (test for syphilis) were 0.04% in 1987, and increased to 0.2% in 2002. The decreasing trends observed in data from the 17-year period studied indicate the value of safety measures taken, in particular the implementation of donor screening procedures in 1997.