Seroprevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV in the Donor Eyes in the Western Regional Institute of Ophthalmology

Introduction: The number of donor corneas procured by eye banks is steadily increasing all over the world. Proper evaluation of donor cornea is critical to the success of cornea transplantation. Objectives: To study the screening tests required before release of corneal tissue for transplantation. Methods: Blood samples were collected at the time of enucleation of the eye from 607 consecutive eye donors. The samples were tested for seromarkers of Human Immunodeficiency virus I& II (HIV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), and Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Results: In our study seroprevalence of HIV, HBV & HCV viruses in eye donors are 1.31%, 0.49% and 0.49% respectively. Conclusion: The study proves that it is mandatory to screen the potential cornea donors for HIV, HBV, HCV.