Journal of Blood Disorders & Transfusion

A Study of Prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis B among Blood Donors in Tertiary Care Hospital, Kolar, Karnataka

Nalini HS, Manjula K^*, Srinivasa Reddy P and Kalyani R Department of Pathology, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Sri Decaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Tamaka, Kolar, Karnataka, India
^*Correspondence: Manjula K, Department of Pathology, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, Sri Decaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Tamaka, Kolar, Karnataka, India, Tel: 08951374212, Email:

Received: 28-Aug-2020 Published: 27-Oct-2020, DOI: 10.35248/2155-9864.20.11.443

Methods

After taking institutional ethical clearance, five years retrospective study was carried out at blood bank. All the blood donors (voluntary donor’s and replacement donors) donating blood in the blood bank were considered as the study population. During the study period 79162 units were collected from the healthy donor’s aged between 18t o 60 years.

Written consent from the donor were also taken prior to blood donation. 3ml of blood in plain vial and 2ml blood in EDTA vial taken from the satellite bag. The units were tested for transfusion transmitted diseases.

Donor selection was based on NACO (NATIONAL AID CONTROL ORGANIZATION), a unique identification number was given, and clinical history was collected. Any pre-existing illness in the recent past, weight loss, recent jaundice, liver disease, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, epilepsy, malaria, excessive bleeding and recent donation of blood were excluded from the study.

Persons belonging to high risk groups such as patients from Thalassemia, sexually transmitted diseases, drug abusers, dialysis patients, and pregnant women were also excluded from the study as they were not able to donate. Weight, pulse, blood pressure and temperature were recorded for each donor. Screening for anemia and inspection for any marks of the drug abuse or any skin lesions / infections at the venipuncture site was also recorded.

The samples were obtained for serological testing. Screening for HBs Ag and HIV was done using rapid kit based on the principle of a one-step immunoassay. All reactive samples were tested again using the commercially available ELISA KIT with reported sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 94.9 % per the manufacture’s manual. Samples showing repeat test reactivity on both methods were considered positive and were included for calculation of seroprevelence. Standard operative procedures were strictly followed. Quality control was run for all the serological tests. Blood bank quality was ensured by well trained professionals.

Results

A total of 35 938 donors were screened for HIV and HBsAg over a period of 5 years (Table 1). Of these, 33.853 (94.2%) donors were males and 2085 (05.8%) were females. 117 donor samples were positive for HIV (0.30%) and 359 donor samples were positive for HBsAg accounting to 0.99% of seroprevalence (Table 1).

Table 1: Total number of donors and seroprevalence of HIV and HBsAg over a period of five years.

Of the donors tested positive for HIV by ELISA, 97% were males and 3% were females. Ahigh rate of HIV positivity 71.79% (84/117) was seen in the age group of 18-35 years. The remaining 28.20% (33/117) were in the age category of 36-60 years.

Of the donors tested positive for HBsAg, 91% were males and 9% were females. A high rate of HBsAg positivity 70.75% (254/359) was seen in the age group of 18-35 years. The remaining 29.24% (105/359) were in the age category 36-60 years.

Discussion

Blood transfusion is a life saving measure but still has a risk of transmission of infections. Screening tests done during blood transfusion gives a clue about rate of prevalence of transfusion transmitted diseases in asymptomatic individuals [8] Knowledge of the prevalence of the transfusion transmitted infections among blood donors will help to develop and implement efficient strategies for safe blood transfusions [9-11].

In this study, the prevalence of HIV was 0.30%. The rate of prevalence has reduced gradually from 0.4 to 0.17% (2013 to 2017). Highest prevalence was seen in 2014 and 2015. The maximum number of donors was in 3rd decade, higher in men than in women. This reduce prevalence may be because of meticulous donor selection. HIV seroprevalance of present study was comparatively less than studies done by d Dayal S [12], Chandra et al [13], Devraj et a. [14] and Armed force study [7]. In Western studies done on seroprevalence of HIV, the prevalence of HIV is high varies from 15% to 3% [15-17].

HBV is considered one of the most infectious diseases in the world and it is more prevalent in Sub Saharan Africa and Asia6. In the present study, the prevalence of HBV among blood donors was 0.99%. Highest prevalence was seen in 2015 (1.25%) and lowest in 2017 (0.9%). Maximum numbers of HBV positive donors were in 3rd decade, higher in men than in women. This low rate seroprevalence may be due to awareness of transfusion transmitted diseases among blood donors and comprehensive vaccination program against HBV, and improved clinical selection of donor. Present study prevalence was comparatively lower than studies done by Gupta et al. [17] and Varsha GS et al [4]. In contrast, prevalence of HBV in other similar studies was high, varied from 25% to1.6% [6,17,18].

Conclusion

Seroprevalance of HIV was0.30% and HBV 0.99%). There was a gradual declining trend in both HIV and Hepatitis B. strict selection of blood donors and following NACO approved standard testing procedures will further help in decline of seroprevalance of HIV and Hepatitis B.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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