Prevalence and Trends in Hepatitis B & C Virus among Blood Donors in Pakistan: A Regional Transfusion Center Study

Abstract

Around 118.5 million blood donations are collected annually to save precious lives. The donated blood may also be associated with blood-borne infections. With around 247 million population, Pakistan is an endemic country for viral hepatitis, and there is a high risk of having asymptomatic blood donors among healthy donors. Viral hepatitis is 2.5% prevalent in the general population, and blood donation and its screening have become grave health concerns for Pakistani health authorities. Asymptomatic viral hepatitis needs screening to rule out subliminally diseased individuals, as recommended by the World Health Organization. Knowing the prevalence of the transfusion transmissible infectious (TTIs) agents in healthy blood donors helps assess the disease burden in any population, boosts treatment rates, and precludes dreaded complications in the affected people. The objective of the current study was to determine the prevalence and trends of significant TTIs among blood donors visiting the Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT), Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A total of 15,405 blood donors were screened for HBV, HCV, HIV, malaria, and syphilis during this cross-sectional descriptive study. Most donors had an O-positive blood group; AB-negative donors were only 0.7%. Out of the study population, we reported 1.06% HBV, 0.54% HCV, 0.19% HIV, and 0.31% syphilis-positive asymptomatic blood donors. However, no blood donor was found positive for malaria. The Punjab province was reported as the most burdened for TTIs, and youngsters aged 18–27 years were mainly positive, indicating the need to conduct national-level awareness campaigns about TTIs. The stakeholders need to strengthen the blood collection guidelines, and effective performance should be strictly monitored through internal and external audits considering the aim of reaching non-infectious blood products.

Focused Ultrasound as Targeted Therapy for Colorectal Cancer: A Comprehensive Review

“…Dealing with issues surrounding nicotine dependence and quitting smoking requires the adoption of extensive tobacco control strategies and public awareness campaigns emphasizing the contradictory effects of smoking and its associated risk factors linked with colorectal cancer, as depicted in Figure 1 [7]. Colorectal cancers exhibit phenotypic and genotypic diversity and can metastasize, invade, seed, and develop resistance to standard anticancer drugs [8]. Despite notable progress in conventional anticancer treatment options such as tumor resection, chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, and radiation, the outlook for individuals with colorectal cancer remains less than optimal, which underscores the need to transition towards more innovative and precisely targeted therapies [9].…”

“…HIFU works through a concave transducer that has a fixed focal length and aperture. According to the International Electrochemical Commission, in HIFU, a fundamental frequency of 0.8 to 2 MHz, a temporal-average intensity of 400 to 10,000 W cm −2 , and a pressure Colorectal cancers exhibit phenotypic and genotypic diversity and can metastasize, invade, seed, and develop resistance to standard anticancer drugs [8]. Despite notable progress in conventional anticancer treatment options such as tumor resection, chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, and radiation, the outlook for individuals with colorectal cancer remains less than optimal, which underscores the need to transition towards more innovative and precisely targeted therapies [9].…”