Trends in the prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections among blood donors in Albania.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine the trend of transfusion transmitted infection in blood donors. In this study 52727 blood donors were retrospectively evaluated for markers of hepatitis B, C, HIV(1/2), and syphilis. To screen the blood donors for HIV(1/2)(HIV(1/2) Ag/Ab COMBO, ABBOTT Laboratory, Delkenheim, Germany), the microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA) method was used. For HBsAg and anti-HCV third generation MEIA kits (ABBOTT Laboratory, Delkenheim, Germany) were used and for the syphilis RPR test the Biokit SA (Barcelona, Spain) was used. A total of 52,727 donors were tested within the five year period, of which 15 (0.03%), 3531 (6.7%), 323 (0.6%), and 35 (0.07%) were positive for HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis, respectively. The prevalence of TTI in blood donors was 7.4%. It increased steadily from 5.1% in 2004 to 8.3% in 2006, stayed in same level in 2007, and decreased to 8.1% in 2008. Distribution of transfusion-transmissible infection (TTI) based on donor status was 13.8% in first time commercial remunerated blood donors, 9.4% in first time voluntary blood donors, and 9.7% in family replacement blood donors. Our results in this study showed that family replacement donors are more likely to transmit transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) than voluntary donors, but are safer than commercial blood donors. So blood transfusion services should work on replacement of family blood donors with voluntary non-remunerated blood donors.