Seroprevalence of infectious markers & their trends in blood donors in a hospital based blood bank in north india

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Hepatitis B virus (HBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and syphilis infections pose a great threat to blood safety. This study was undertaken to investigate the seroprevalence of serologic markers for transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs) among blood donors at a hospital based blood centre in north India over a period of nine years. METHODS: The results of serologic markers for TTIs (HBsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV and syphilis) of all blood donations (both voluntary and replacement) at our hospital from January 2005 to December 2013 were screened. Additional analysis was conducted to examine the prevalence trends associated with each of the positive marker. RESULTS: The data of 180,477 donors [173,019 (95.86%) males and 7,458 (4.13%) females] were analyzed. Replacement donations [174,939 (96.93%)] represented the majority whereas, only 5,538 (3.06%) donations were from the voluntary donors. The risk of blood being reactive was three times higher in male donors when compared with the female donors. The risk of blood being reactive for one or more infectious markers was 2.1 times higher in replacement donors when compared with the voluntary donors. Seropositivity of HIV, HBsAg, HBcAb, syphilis showed a significant decreasing trend (P<0.05) while there was an increasing trend in HCV infection which was insignificant. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: This study reflects that the risk of TTIs has been decreased over time with respect to HIV, HBV and syphilis, but the trends for HCV remains almost the same in blood donors. Blood transfusion remains a risk factor for the spread of blood-borne infections. Therefore, improvements are needed to strengthen both safety and availability of blood.