Frequency of Hepatitis B, C and HIV Infections among Transfusion-Dependent Beta Thalassemia Patients in Dhaka

Abstract

Transfusion transmitted infections have remained a major deterrent to public health, particularly among the patients with transfusion-dependent Beta thalassemia in developing countries. Although proper donor selection through adoption of WHO-advised infection panel has lowered the rate of infections, the multi-transfused patients are not free of risk. In this study, we screened 148 transfusion-dependent Beta thalassemia patients to determine the frequency of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) using the ELISA method. Among them, infected cases with HCV, HBV and HIV were 13.51%, 3.37% and 0%, respectively. Moreover, 2% of the patients were found to be co-infected with both HBV and HCV. The percentage of infections in the patients with frequent transfusion interval (≤30 days) was significantly higher (p < 0.0005) than that in the patients with less frequent transfusion intervals (>30 days). Immunochromatography (ICT)-based rapid test kits are usually used to screen and confirm these infections in the blood of the patients. However, ICT-based tests are not sensitive enough to detect the infections. So, a combination of both Nucleic Acid testing (NAT) and serological testing are suggested to significantly reduce the risk of viral infections during blood transfusion.

Insights Into the Coinfections of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Hepatitis B Virus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Hepatitis C Virus, and Hepatitis B Virus-Hepatitis C Virus: Prevalence, Risk Factors, Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatment

“…On the other hand, patients dually infected with HCV and HBV carry a significantly higher risk of developing fulminant hepatic failure, liver cirrhosis, and HCC than those with HCV or HBV infection alone ( Liu, 2014 ). A recent study showed that viral infections, such as HBV, HCV, and HIV, are the second most common cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with thalassemia ( Bhuyan et al, 2021 ). Great attention should be paid to the stages of liver disease, virus predominance, and the presence of HIV infection and comorbidities to conduct a better treatment.…”

Prevalence and Molecular Evaluation of Hepatitis C Virus Infection among Multi-transfused Thalassemia Patients in South of Iran

“… 33 While low seroprevalence of HCV has been reported in India (3.4%) 34 and Bangladesh (13.51%). 35 These studies show a wide range of variations in the geographical distribution of HCV infection, reflecting differences in the transfusion safety measures, the predominant risk factors, and the rates of HCV infection endemicity in different regions. As it is necessary to study the prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors to assess the current most common risk factors, the study of the epidemiology of HCV infection among thalassemia patients as blood recipients is also essential to evaluate the effectiveness of the transfusion safety measures employed in the blood transfusion organizations of the country.…”

The Prevalence of Transfusion-Transmitted Infections and Their Associated Risk Factors Among Transfusion-Dependent Beta-Thalassemia Major Patients Registered in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Jamnagar, Gujarat

“…Although hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), West Nile virus (WNV), human T cell lymphotropic viruses I, II (HTLV-I/II) had been reported most frequently, HCV and HBV had been known as the most prevalent etiological agents of chronic viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma among the thalassemia patients. Beta thalassemia (BT) are transfusion-dependent and these patients are very much prone to transfusion-transmitted viral infections [11] .…”