The prevalence of blood-transmitted infections (hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV) in blood donors in Sarab City within 2014-2017

Background: The main goal of blood transfusion medicine in the last decade is to reduce infections transmitted by blood. To reach the optimal level of risk of blood transfusion should be taken into account in the subsequent stages of blood transfusion health and safety. Viral hepatitis and HIV are one of the most important problems in the health of human societies. Despite significant advances in diagnosis, screening, control methods for these diseases, the transfer of viruses through blood is one of the major challenges in blood transfusion centers. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV in healthy blood donors in Sarab.Materials and Methods: The study was a retrospective cross-sectional study. In census, all volunteer donors referring to the blood transfusion centers in Sarab (6165 people) during the years 2014 to 2017 were studied. The donors personal data and the results of the HBsAg, HCVAb and HIVAb tests were extracted from the computerized data based on the blood transfusion organization s initial tests. Hepatitis B, C and HIV infection determined by ELISA. If the results of tests were positive, the tests were repeated and then in the final confirmation testing, the tests Neutralization, RIBA, and Western Blot were used. Results: In this study, a total of 6165 blood donors were studied over a period of 4 years, of which 36 donors’ blood tests were positive for HBsAg, 5 were HCV and 3 were HIV positive. The prevalence of HCV Ab, HBsAg and HIV-Ab positive among all blood donors was 0.081%, 0.583%, and 0.048%, respectively. Conclusions: According to the information obtained from this study, the prevalence of blood-transmitted infections is lower than in many parts of the world, and even lower than in studies conducted in Iran, which is very promising. Also, due to the increasing need for blood and blood products and the loss of human blood donation volunteers, it can be concluded that screening and donor selection are effective and necessary for finding high-risk individuals. This emphasizes the importance of interviewing and describing the abuse as a simple, inexpensive and reliable method of screening for donors.