The overall prevalence was 4.19% for HBsAg and 0.38% for HCV antibody during the study period. The annual prevalence of HBsAg gradually increased from 4.92% in 1989 to 5.23% in 1991 (p=0.001, t=21.00, CI(95), 17237-22490) and gradually decreased from that to 2.10% in 2004 (p=0.001, t=17.27, CI(95), 12869-21342). The seroprevalence of HCV antibody gradually increased from 18 per 10.000 in 1996, to 56 per 10.000 in 1998 (p=0.073, t=3.81, CI(95), 459.62-5721.23), while that decreased to 34 per 10.000 in 2004 (p=0.021, t=7.49, CI(95), 743.98-3980.11). The seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C has decreased markedly between 1989 and 2004 in Turkey. This could be related to the significant increase in the number of volunteer blood donors that increased from 135,779 to 197,815.

This observational study attempted to identify the effect of a natural disaster on the safety of blood supply and donor types with the influx of donors after a severe earthquake. Blood donation rate, blood discard rate and safety of blood donations responding to the earthquake, as projected from the infectious disease marker rate, were evaluated in blood donated immediately before (1 July-17 August) and after 17 August 1999 (17 August-21 August). These were compared with the results from the corresponding periods in 1998 and 2000 for donations at a university medical centre and two regional blood centres. 8055 units of allogeneic blood were collected at two regional blood centres, and 450 units were collected at a university medical centre during 4 days. Viral marker rates were nearly the same at the former but were slightly lower at the latter. The blood discard rate was nearly twice the comparative periods at the former, but it remained unchanged at the latter. Voluntary donors replaced the replacement donors during 4 days. This analysis highlights the size of the pool of potential donors that are available as a national resource that can be motivated to give blood with the right motivation.

The national blood transfusion policies have been changed significantly in recent years in Turkey. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HIV in blood donors at the Red Crescent Center in Istanbul and to evaluate the effect of changes in the national blood transfusion policies on the prevalence of these infections. The screening results of 72695 blood donations at the Red Crescent Center in Istanbul between January and December 2007 were evaluated retrospectively. HBsAg, anti-HCV, and anti-HIV-1/2 were screened by microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA) method. Samples found to be positive for anti-HIV 1/2 and anti-HCV were confirmed by Inno-Lia HCV Ab III and Inno-Lia HIV I/II Score, respectively. The seropositivity rates for HBsAg, anti-HCV, and anti-HIV-1/2 were determined as 1.76%, 0.07%, and 0.008%, respectively. Compared to the previously published data from Red Crescent Centers in Turkey, it was found that HBV and HCV seroprevalances decreased and HIV seroprevalance increased in recent years. In conclusion, we believe that the drop in HBV and HCV prevalence rates are likely multifactorial and may have resulted from more diligent donor questioning upon screening, a higher level of public awareness on viral hepatitis as well as the expansion of HBV vaccination coverage in Turkey. Another factor to contribute to the decreased prevalence of HCV stems from the use of more sensitive confirmation testing on all reactive results, thereby eliminating a fair amount of false positive cases. Despite similar transmission routes, the increase in HIV prevalence in contrast to HBV and HCV may be linked to the increase in AIDS cases in Turkey in recent years

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