Seroprevalence of Transfusion Transmissible Infections Among Voluntary Blood Donors at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Rural Area of India

BACKGROUND: Blood transfusion is a life-saving measure in various medical and surgical emergencies. Transfusion medicine, apart from being important for the medical treatment of each patient, also has great public health importance. OBJECTIVES: The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of transfusion transmitted infections in voluntary blood donors at a rural tertiary care teaching hospital in western Maharashtra, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All voluntary donors reporting to the blood bank were screened for HBsAg, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), HIV and Syphilis by using the appropriate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. HIV infection was confirmed using a standard immunoblotting technique. Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) was tested for surface antigen (HBsAg) and HCV by the immunechromatographic method. The Venereal Disease Reference Laboratory (VDRL) test was used for estimation of syphilis infection. The study was designed for a duration of two years between January 2009 to December 2010. Medical reports of the donors were accessed from the hospital records and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 5661 voluntary blood donors were screened, of which 5394 (95.28%) were males and 267 (4.72%) were females. The overall seroprevalence of HBV and HCV were 1.09% and 0.74% respectively; for HIV and syphilis the seroprevalence was estimated to be 0.07% for each. CONCLUSION: Blood is still one of the main sources of transmission of infections. HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C viruses and syphilis are prevalent among voluntary donors in rural India.