Transfusion Transmitted Infection Trends among Blood Donors in Tertiary Care Hospital from North India: A 7 Year Retrospective Study

Background: Transmission of infection has always been a concern for blood bank professionals and for practising physicians who prescribe blood and blood components for their patients. The rate of Transfusion transmitted infections in donated blood is one of the main indicators of blood safety which has to be monitored precisely. This paper provides a thorough study of blood safety indicators. To study the trends of infections that can be transmitted by blood such as HIV, Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, Syphilis and Malaria among blood donors at a tertiary care Government Medical College blood bank in north India in the last 7 years. Material and Methods: This study was conducted retrospectively over a period of 7 years from August 2013 to January 2020. A total of 29,262 blood donors who donated blood during this period were tested for HIV, HBV, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria. Comparative analysis was done to study the trend of transfusion transmitted infection among these blood donors. Results: : Out of 29,262 blood unit tested a total of 86 cases of HIV, 840 cases of HBV, 163 cases of HCV,4 cases of syphilis and 13 cases of malaria were identified. Among the blood donors 0.294 % were reactive to HIV, 2.87% were reactive to HBsAg, 0.557 % were reactive to HCV. Whereas 0.0136 % were found to be positive for syphilis and 0.044 % were positive for malaria. Conclusion: Comparing various infections among repeat blood donor and first-time blood donor a retrospective data over a long period showed a trend in seroprevalance of HIV, HBsAg, HCV, Syphilis and malaria. The risk of transmission of these infections by blood transfusion remains high among first time donors. The results of the study reflect the prevalence of these infections in the apparently healthy population and warrant measures like effective donor retention and education policy and newer testing modality such as nucleic acid testing (NAT) to detect infection early and prevent residual risk of transmission.