Seropositivity and trends of transfusion transmitted infections among blood donors at blood center of tertiary care hospital of Marathwada region, Maharashtra, India

Background: Blood transfusion is a life-saving intervention that has an essential role in patient management within health care system. The establishment of systems to ensure that all donated blood screened for transfusion -transmissible infections is a core component of every national blood programme. Testing for TTI’s before blood transfusion is crucial for safety of recipients. with each unit of blood, there is 1% chance of transfusion associated problems including TTI. The aim of this 5-year retrospective study was to analyze the trend of transfusion transmitted infections among blood donors to evaluate the seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, syphilis and malaria. Methods: A retrospective study was done at the blood center over a period of 5 years from January 2020 to December 2024 in healthy donors aged between 18-65 years. TTIs were performed using ELISA for HIV, HBV, HCV and HBsAg, peripheral blood smear for malaria and RPR (Rapid Plasma Reagin) for syphilis. Results: Out of total 64603 healthy voluntary donors, prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV, syphilis and malaria was (14) 0.021%, (257) 0.397%, (38) 0.058%, (12) 0.018% and 0 % respectively in our study. Conclusions: Implementation of strict donor selection criteria along with proper counselling of donors can help to decrease seroprevalence rate of transfusion transmitted diseases. Also, the prevalence rate can be useful for government and health administrative services to implement better policy for safe blood collection and transfusion.