Seroprevalence of Blood-borne Viral Infections among Blood Donors in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Kalaburagi District, Karnataka, India

Introduction: Transfusion of blood and its components is a life- saving manoeuvre but has life threatening hazards as well. Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) is covered by “Drug and Cosmetics Act” and has legal implications. Hence, strict criteriae are followed while selecting a donor, particularly emphasising on Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTI), which may improve safe transfusion practices. Aim: To study the seroprevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) among Voluntary Donors (VD) in blood centre, tertiary care hospital, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India. Materials and Methods: The present study was retrospective observational study done for four consecutive years from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2020. Data of all donors screened for HIV, HBV and HCV was retrieved from the records of Gulbarga Institute Medical Sciences (GIMS) Blood Centre, GIMS Hospital, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India. The results were tabulated and analysed using descriptive statistics.. Results: Total blood units taken were 15,466 from VDs. There were 96.8% (14,966/15,466) male and 3.2% (500/15,466) female donors. The overall seropositivity of HBV, HCV and HIV was 1.8%, 0.006% and 0.12%, respectively. The highest seroprevalence of TTI was found to be in the age group of 18-30 years (169 donors; 55.6%) followed by 31-40 years age group (103 donors; 33.9%). Conclusion: This study shows increasing trend for total blood donation. Strict selection and retention of voluntary low-risk blood donors is recommended to improve the blood safety. Use of highly sensitive screening tests like Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) technology may be implemented in all blood centres to possibly reduce the incidence of TTI.