Estimating the Transmission Risks of Viral Hepatitis and HIV Among Blood Donors in Hossana, Southern Ethiopia

PURPOSE: Screening of viral transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) among blood donors is of public health concern. It is a cost-effective method to monitor the occurrence, distribution, and trends of TTIs in healthy people. This study aimed to estimate the magnitude of the three common viral TTIs among blood donors in Hossana, Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 417 blood donors from April to May 2020 in Southern Ethiopia. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and laboratory blood screening for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) using Wantai AiDTM HBsAg, anti-HCV, and HIV 1 + 2 Ag/Ab ELISA. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with each viral infection. The odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was calculated. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 417 blood donors participated in this study producing an overall prevalence of viral TTI was 14.38%. HBV, HCV, and HIV prevalence were 9.83%, 2.39%, and 4.31%, respectively. HBV-HIV was a common co-infection, which had 1.2%. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, family history of hepatitis (AOR=5.2, 95% CI (2.92, 7.41)) and multiple sexual contacts (AOR=4.2, 95% CI (2.32–7.43)) were significantly associated with HBV; low educational level (AOR=3.1, 95% CI (2.58–15.25)) and multiple sexual contacts (AOR=4.9, 95% CI (3.51–7.96)) were significantly associated with HIV, but the only variable alcohol consumption (AOR=2.7, 95% CI (6.72–23.76)) was also associated with HCV infection. CONCLUSION: In this study, the magnitude of viral TTIs among blood donors is high. This indicates that there are high risks of transmission for these infectious pathogens. Therefore, effective stringent donor selection and screening protocols should be developed.