The prevalence of transfusion transmitted infections: A focus on hepatitis B virus among blood donors at Hawassa blood bank center, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Aims: Millions of lives are saved each year through blood transfusion but a safe blood supply is a critical component of health care to prevent the spread of blood-borne infectious diseases. Therefore, it is essential to assess the prevalence and identify the most common culprit and risk in transfusion services. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2015 to May 2015 at the Hawassa blood bank center. Blood donors who donated blood for transfusion purposes were considered for the study. Whole blood was collected and serum was separated from each donor. The sera were used for examination of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and syphilis. Thick film was prepared and stained using Giemsa for malaria detection. Results: A total of 384 blood donors were screened during the study period. Among these donors, 67.2% (258) were males and 32.8% (126) were females. The overall prevalence of transfusion transmitted infections (TTI) was 28 out of 384 (7.29%) apparently healthy donors. and malaria was 6 (1.6%), 16 (4.2%), 2 (0.5%), 3 (0.8%) and 1 (0.3%) respectively. Two out of 384 (0.5%) had co-infections with HIV-HBV 1 (0.26%) and HBV-HCV 1 (0.26%). A 1:14 ratio (7.14%) of the blood collected was discarded only due to the presence of TTI. The highest discard rate was recorded from HBV infected units 57.1%, followed by HIV 21.40%, syphilis 10.7%, HCV 7.10%, and malaria 3.60%. Overall, TTIs were found in males (7.8%), married (2.5%), rural (8%), private/NGO employed donors (28.6%), 45-54 age group (20%), and in replacement/family donors (16.1%) (p = 0.039). Conclusion: The prevalence of TTIs in the Hawassa blood bank center was significantly high. HBV infection was the major cause for TTIs. Recommendations: Overall, effective clinical and laboratory screening of blood donors is essential. Proper treatment of TTI positive cases and a good donor selection program will help to reduce the prevalence of TTIs in donor units. Blood bank programs should give much more consideration in screening and diagnosis of HBV which is the main TTI that causes a high discard rate of blood.

Proportion and predictors of transfusion-transmissible infections among blood donors in North Shewa Zone, Central North Ethiopia

“…The 0.25% prevalence rate of HIV among blood donors in North Shewa zone was lower than the previous reports from Gondar (2.24%), Jimma (2.1%), Hawassa (1.6%) and Wolayita Sodo (6.4%), Ethiopia [ 9 , 15 , 16 , 25 ]. This could be due to differences in sociodemographic risks factors, HIV prevalence in the general population, health education programs, and donor selection schemes across the study areas.…”

“…In this study, we found that 2.4% of the donated blood was tested seropositive for at least one of the screened TTIs. This was relatively a low prevalence when compared to the rates reported from other parts of Ethiopia, which ranged from 6.6% to 29.5% [ 7 , 9 , 15 , 16 ]. Several explanations can be put forward for the lower prevalence of TTIs in this study.…”

“…Safe blood supply is an essential component in improving health care. However, the risk of TTIs remains a critical concern for the safety of blood transfusion programs in resource-limited countries [ 14 – 16 ]. Thus, up-to-date data on the proportion of TTIs among blood donors, especially in TTIs high burden settings like Ethiopia, would inform policy makers to formulate strategies to plan, implement, and evaluate performances.…”

“…Several explanations can be put forward for the lower prevalence of TTIs in this study. First, all of the blood donors in our study were voluntary donors, while in the previous studies over 90% of donations were by replacement donors (i.e., a friend or family member of the recipient who donates to replace the stored blood used in a transfusion) [ 7 , 15 , 16 ]. Second, over half of the donors in our study were students and about 40% were employed, unlike other studies [ 10 , 15 ].…”

“…These differences in the prevalence of HBV infection across the studies might be due to some differences in socioeconomic status, risk behaviors, the rate of HBV infection in the background population, and effectiveness of donor selection strategies. It is also important mentioning that our study analysed data collected over three years unlike some of the studies that looked for the prevalence of TTIs over a short period (about a year) [ 9 , 16 , 19 ]. Thus, the observed variations in TTIs prevalence across the studies could be due to such differences.…”