PREVALENCE AND RISK ASSESSMENT OF TRANSFUSION-TRANSMISSIBLE INFECTIONS AMONG BLOOD DONORS IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Transfusion of blood and blood components has become a norm in the current medical practice especially when it comes to support during surgical operations or in handling of various medical emergencies or chronic diseases. But, the disadvantage is that it is accompanied with a potential to transmit infections diseases commonly referred to as Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTIs). In Pakistan, TTIs including HBV, HCV, HIV and syphilis remain of special interest because of the irregular manner of donor screening, poor knowledge of the population and high prevalence of these diseases. This cross sectional study intended to assess the TTIs summary among the blood donors a selected areas in Pakistan throughout the period 2020 to 2023. Cross-sectional study was done on 25000 blood donors; this involved voluntary and replacemen tdonors whereby all data was received from the years 2012-2014. All the collected samples were subjected to HBV, HCV, HIV, and syphilis serology using standard serological testing procedures that conform to national standards.With this, it was realized that 4.76% of the donors reacted positive to at least one TTI. In particular, the overall HBV prevalence was 1.62%, HCV 1.94%, HIV 0.61%, and syphilis 0.59% regarding the donors. It is worth to note that TTIs were reported more frequent among replacement donors than the voluntary donors which calls for shifts towards voluntary unpaid blood donations. These findings call for enhanced measures in the enhancement of blood safety in Pakistan. Some of the recommendations were rigorous screening and policies to be adopted and strictly followed, increase the voluntary blood donation, and to launch public awareness campaigns regarding the factors that are associated with the negative repercussion of transfusion of unsafe blood. These interventions will greatly help to decrease the burden of TTIs and ensure safety in the supply of blood in Pakistan.