Seroprevalence and trends of transfusion transmitted infections at Harar blood bank in Harari regional state, Eastern Ethiopia: eight years retrospective study.

Background: The use of unscreened blood exposes the patient to many transfusion transmitted infections including Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and syphilis, among others. Thus, blood transfusion demands for meticulous pre-transfusion testing and screening. Trends of transfusion transmitted infections are important to take appropriate measures on blood bank services. Therefore the aim of this study was to assess seroprevalence and trends of transfusion transmitted infections at Harar blood bank in Harari regional state, Eastern Ethiopia from 2008 to 2015.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was employed to review blood donors' history and laboratory tests records from November 16-December 31, 2017. All records of blood donors having vividly documented history and laboratory tests were reviewed by data collectors. All data were entered into EPI data version 3.1. It was exported and analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16 soft ware.

Result: A total of 11, 382 blood donors' history and laboratory tests records were reviewed. Majority of them were males (82.6%), 57.6 % were in the age group of 17 to 25 years and 99.9% donors donated blood for the first time. The overall seroprevalence of transfusion transmitted infections (HBV, HIV, HCV and syphilis combined) was found to be 6.6%. The prevalence of HBV, HIV, HCV and syphilis were found to be 4.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1.1%, respectively. The trend in prevalence of syphilis and HCV was statistical significant by year (p< 0.05). Those donors in the age group of 26-35 years (AOR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.2,3.6), 36-45 years (AOR: 4.1; 95% CI: 2.4,7.1) and greater than 46 years (AOR:4.6; 95% CI: 2.3,9.1) were more likely to be infected with syphilis compared to the age group of 17-25 years. Male were more likely to be infected with HBV (AOR: 1.9; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.5) than females.

Conclusions: The magnitude of transfusion transmitted infections was lower than the previous studies conducted in Ethiopia. However, the decline in trends of transfusion transmitted infections has not been significant for some pathogens. Therefore, strict adherence with the criteria of preliminary blood donor selection should be implemented to reduce the amount of blood being withdrawn from transfusion after collection and screening.