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Abstract

Trends in the Prevalence of Transfusion-Transmissible Infections Among Blood Donors in Albania by Vjollca Durro, Andi Koraqi, Sadik Saliasi

Background: The objective of this study is to determine the trend of transfusion transmitted infection in blood donorsnors.
Methods: In this study 52727 blood donors were retrospectively evaluated for markers of hepatitis B, C, HIV1/2, and syphilis. To screen the blood donors for HIV1/2 (HIV1/2 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.
Results: A total of 52727 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.
Conclusions: 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.

DOI: Clin. Lab. 2010;56:591-595