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BACKGROUNDBlood transfusion carries the potential risk of transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) making it the most dreaded complication of blood transfusion. The objective was to study the trends in seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria amongst the blood donors. METHODSStudy was done over a period of 5 years. Blood donors' data was collected from the blood bank of our institution. Serum samples were tested for HIV-antibody, HCV-antibody and HBsAg using ELISA and Malarial parasite antigen and syphilitic anticardiolipin antibodies by rapid diagnostic tests (RDT). RESULTSDuring the study, a total of 20584 blood donors were screened, out of which 369 blood units were found to be seropositive accounting for a seroprevalence of 1.8%. Seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria were 0.20%, 1.34%, 0.22%, 0.06% and 0% respectively. Out of total screened donors, voluntary donors were 79.4% and remaining 20.6% were replacement donors. An overall decreasing trend was noted in seroprevalence of TTIs over the past five years (p<0.05). Individually, HIV and HCV which showed statistically significant decreasing trend (p<0.05) while HBV continued to show higher seroprevalence. CONCLUSIONSThe prevalence of TTIs has decreased considerably after mandatory testing of blood Units for TTIs. Strict guidelines and their implementation for donor selection and their screening using sensitive tests is the need of the hour in order to reduce the incidence of TTIs.

Background: Routine histopathological specimens like appendix and fallopian tube require individual processing, block making and slide preparation. This process is not only time consuming and requires more effort but also takes up more space during archiving. The objective of the present study was to use commercially available different acrylic colors to ink specimen of appendix and fallopian tube of different patients, process them in a single cassette and preparation of single paraffin block and slide.Methods: 100 cases of appendix and fallopian tubes were taken to evaluate ink mapping technique using Fevicryl® Acrylic colours. Blocks and slides were prepared, labelling on the slides was done using the chromacodes method for identification of the specimen. These slides were then reported by the pathologist.Result: There was a 21% reduction in the amount of paraffin required for preparation of a double embedded block in comparison to two paraffin blocks by conventional method. It was also noted that there was 18% reduction in volume as compared to two conventional paraffin blocks. Conclusion:This method of using surgical inking technique not only brings down the effort and time required, but also storage space and the costs involved along with faster identification and reporting compared to the conventional method.