Detection of Transfusion Transmissible Infections Among Voluntary Blood Donors at a Regional Blood Bank in Western Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Although blood and blood components are well established as medical therapies, they are not without risk and they have the potential for transmission of infectious diseases from donors to recipients. The study aim was to assess the seroprevalence and predictors of blood transfusion transmissible infections among blood donors at Fort Portal Regional Blood Bank.

Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of donor data from 3211 blood donors who donated blood between January and September, 2021, at Fort Portal Regional Blood Bank. The seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) was determined by tabulating the proportion of donors who tested for at least one TTI. A bivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association between the prevalence of TTIs and sociodemographic characteristics.

Results: Majority of the blood donors were below 27 years (41.9%) with a mean age of 30.64 (SD:10.75) years, and males accounted for 86.9% of the donors, while more than half (53.8%) were repeat donors. The overall seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections was at 7.4%. The prevalence of HBV, HCV, HIV and Syphilis was 1.96%, 0.4%, 1.68% and 3.39%, respectively, of the total units tested. Syphilis was the most prevalent of all TTIs, accounting for 109 (45.6%) of all positive TTIs in the study. Blood donors between 39 and 49 and 50-60 years of age had significantly higher odds of HBV infection (COR 0.51, 95% CI 0.26-0.98, P = 0.04) and HIV infection (COR 0.42 95% CI 0.15-1.12, P = 0.05) respectively, and males were more likely to test for HIV (COR 1.91, 95% CI 0.99-3.66, P = 0.05).

Conclusion and recommendation: The study found substantial levels of Transfusion Transmissible Infections among blood donors. Strict donor recruitment strategies should be maintained to minimize potential transmission and reduce blood discard.