Frequency of Viral Transfusion-Transmitted Infections (TTIs) Among Resident and Pilgrim Blood Donors in Mashhad, 2011

Mashhad is a large pilgrimage city with over 20 million pilgrims and tourists annually. Some pilgrims donate their blood voluntarily during the pilgrimage. The present study aimed to compare the prevalence of viral transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs) between resident and pilgrim blood donors in Mashhad. We reviewed the records of all blood donors in Mashhad blood centers in 2011. The demographic data and the prevalence of TTIs, including HBV, HCV, HIV, and HTLV-1, were compared between 42821 donors from Mashhad and 15219 donors from other cities of Iran. The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and Epi-Info 6.0 software. The mean age of residents and pilgrims was 34.6 ± 9.9 and 34.2 ± 10 years, respectively. The male to female ratio in the first group was higher than that in the second group (13.1 and 6.6, respectively). One-third of the residents and nearly two-thirds of the pilgrims were first-time blood donors. The most prevalent TTIs among the residents were HTLV-1 (0.39%) and HBV (0.33%); however, the frequencies of these infections were 0.24% and 0.57% among the pilgrims, respectively. The seroprevalence of HCV infection was 0.054% and 0.072% in the first and second groups, respectively. The HIV infection was observed only in one donor from Mashhad. A low prevalence of TTIs, particularly HCV and HIV infections, was found among blood donors from all parts of Iran. A higher prevalence of HTLV-1 infection among Mashhad donor population than among donors from other parts of Iran verified the virus endemicity in this region.