Rajat Mondal, Sananda Koley , Isha Aggarwal , Nikhil Kumar
BACKGROUND Transfusion of blood and/or its components is a life saving measure but at the same time it has life threatening hazards also and with every unit of blood, there is 1% chance of transfusion- associated problems including transfusion- transmitted diseases. Amongst the blood transfusion complications, transmission of certain infections (TTIs) like HIV, Hepatitis B & C, Syphilis, Malaria are most significant for the long-term detrimental side effects. Blood transfusion services (BTS) is an integral and indispensable part of the healthcare system. As per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (Government of India) under The Drug and Cosmetic Act, 1945 (amended from time to time), all the blood donations are to be screened against the five major infections namely HIV, HBV, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria. The objectives of this study were- 1) to assess the seroprevalence of TTI s. 2) yearly comparison of the trends of Transfusion transmitted infections among voluntary and replacement donors. 3) implementing strategies for prevention of these infections so as to ensure safe blood to the recipients. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a record based observational study from April 2015 to March 2018. Data regarding the screening-test results, type of donors and demographic data were collected from the blood bank register. Study Design- Record based observational study. RESULTS Total TTI positivity was found to be 2%, with majority of replacement donors. In our study we found the overall prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and Syphilis were 0.14, 0.45, 0.66, 0.72% respectively with a solitary case of malaria. CONCLUSION More and more voluntary blood donors are needed which can be done by public awareness programmes, blood donation camps, restriction of donation by professional donors. With the advent of nucleic acid amplification techniques (NAT), western countries have decreased the risk of TTI to a major extent. But the cost-effectiveness of NAT is poor. Increasing prevalence of syphilis in our area shows that sexually transmitted infections are widespread in developing countries and constitute a major public health problem.
