Six-year seroprevalence results for blood center mandatory donor screenings: single center experience

Abstract

Aims: Infections transmitted through blood and blood product transfusions are one of the most important health problems today. In Turkey; Microbiological screening for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis and HIV infections is mandatory for each unit of blood and blood components prepared for transfusion, regardless of the time between donations. In this study, it was aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV, HCV, HIV and syphilis in blood donors who applied to our Blood Center and to compare them with the prevalences in other regions of Turkey. Material and Method: The study was conducted between January 2016 and June 2022 and included 68195 donors. Screenings for HBsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV and syphilis tests were performed with commercial kits using the Electro-Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (ECLIA) principle. Positive results were confirmed by validation studies. Results: As a result of screening, 279 (0.4%) of 68195 donors tested positive for HBsAg, 56 (0.08%) for anti-HCV, 25 for anti-HIV (0.03%) and 197 (0.28%) for syphilis. Of the total donors, 2129 (3.1%) were volunteers and 66,066 (97%) were non-volunteer relatives. In total, 0.8% of the donors were positive for screening. Conclusion: The significant (0.8%) positivity detected in the HBsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV and syphilis tests of the donors showed that blood transfusion screening tests were vital. In addition, considering the window period of infections and the pre-seroconversion period, it was concluded that there is a need for methods with high sensitivity and solutions such as avoiding unnecessary transfusions.