Retrospective Study of the Seroprevalence of HIV, HCV, and HBV in Blood Donors at a Blood Bank of Western Mexico

Abstract

Obtaining blood which is safe for transfusions is one of the principal challenges in the health systems of developing countries. Supply of contaminated blood increases morbidity, mortality, and the costs of patient care. In Mexico, serological screening is mandatory, but only a few of the main blood banks routinely perform a nucleic acid test (NAT). Data from 80,391 blood donations processed between August 2018 and December 2019 at the Central Blood Bank of the Western National Medical Center of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) were analyzed. All donors were screened for serological markers and NAT was performed. Reactive donors were followed-up to confirm their results. The number of reactive donors and seroprevalence rates for HIV, HCV, and HBV were 152 (18.91/10,000), 385 (47.89/10,000), and 181 (22.51/10,000), respectively; however, these rates decreased when NAT-confirmed reactive results were considered. Male donors were found to have a higher seroprevalence than females, and younger donors higher than older donors. The present study shows that HIV, HCV, and HBV seroprevalence in blood donors in Western Mexico is low. We propose that Mexico should establish future strategies, including pathogen reduction technologies (PRTs), in order to improve blood safety and reduce transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs).

Donated Blood Screening for HIV, HCV and HBV by ID-NAT and the Residual Risk of Iatrogenic Transmission in a Tertiary Care Hospital Blood Bank in Puebla, Mexico

“…During the period covered in this study, another eight seroprevalence studies for HIV, HCV or HBV in Mexican BDs were published ( Table S2 ). Our seroprevalence, with the anti-HIV/p24Ag combo test, was 0.12% ( Table 2 ), within the range reported by six of those studies: 0.13% (CI 95%: 0.092–0.16) ( Table S2 ) [ 10 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. However, in the second period, HIV seroprevalence increased, likely because most anti-HIV/p24Ag combo assays produce a binary positive or negative result, without identification of the component causing reactivity [ 14 ].…”

HIV screening among prospective blood donors who are negative for conventional screening methods in referral hospitals in Kebbi State Nigeria

“…The inclusion of Stat-Pak as a tiebreaker kit resolved the discrepancy, as it confirmed 2% HIV seroprevalence [5,15,23]. The results suggest that a single HIV rapid diagnostic technique is not recommended in a high seroprevalence population because of the possibility of false positive and negative results [5,6,14,15,23]. The single HIV antibody test has the advantages of simplicity and cost-effectiveness for confirming infection.…”

“…Blood transfusion is a known risk factor for infectious disease transmission, including HIV [5]. The prevalence of seroconversion following transfusion of HIV-infected blood is greater than 90% in HIV infection [6,7]. The danger of getting HIV via a blood transfusion was practically removed in industrialized nations with the advent of the HIV antibody diagnostic test [5].…”

Demographic Factors Among HIV Confirmed Blood Donors from 2013 to 2021 in Shenzhen

“…Demographic factors are shown to be associated with HIV prevalence. 8 , 9 In the past, there were many articles about the seroprevalence of HIV among blood donors. 10 , 11 But in recent years, many researchers have focused on the prevalence of HIV based on the positive result for NAT or WB.…”