The Association between the Prevalence of Transfusion Transmitted Infections and Characteristics of Infected Blood Donors in Kerman, Iran

Nowadays, one of the main challenges of the blood transfusion organization is the procurement, distribution, and monitoring of the appropriate use of blood and its products. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTIs) including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV+), hepatitis B virus (HBV+), and hepatitis C virus (HCV+), and also to determine the relationship between the prevalence of Transfusion Transmitted Infections and characteristics of Infected blood donors, which can be useful in the selection of blood donors.

 This retrospective study was conducted on all blood donors in Kerman Province during five years (from March 2014 to February 2019). Individuals whose initial test and supplementary test results were positive, were considered as definitely positive. Chi-square test was used to investigate the relationship between measured factor and outcome. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 20. Statistically significant value was considered at P≤0.05.

After confirmatory tests, it was revealed that 500 cases were infected with one of the three blood-borne viruses of HIV+, HBs+, and HCV+. Considering a 95% confidence interval, the prevalence of HIV+, HBs+, and HCV+ was, 0.0006%, 0.1%, and 0.04%, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the prevalence of infections and age, educational status (P=0.008), and donation status (P=0.007), but there was no significant relationship between the prevalence of infections and gender and marital status (P>0.05).

 The overall prevalence of TTIs among blood donors of Kerman province was 0.14%, indicating that the prevalence of TTIs is very low, it can be due to the appropriate screening of blood donors prior to the blood donation and performing advanced screening approved by the World Health Organization. According to the results, the healthiest blood donors are regular blood donors and those with a history of blood donation.