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Indian Journal of Medical Sciences, Volume 57, Number 9, September 2003, pp. 405-407 PREVALENCE OF SEROREACTIVITY AMONG BLOOD DONORS IN RURAL POPULATION B R Sonwane, S D Birare, P V Kulkarni* Lecturer; *Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and
Blood Bank, Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Medical College, Ambajogai-431517.
Accepted Date: 13-11-2002. Code Number: ms03024 ABSTRACT The seroreactivity pattern amongst blood donors in rural population was studied at S.R.T. Rural Medical College and Hospital, Ambajogai (M. S.). The study period was from January 1996 to December 2001. A total number of 12,240 blood donors were screened. The voluntary donation was 36.98% and replacement donors were 63.02%. No professional donor is bled in our blood bank. The HIV seroreactivity among voluntary donors was 1.56% and 2.11% in replacement donors. The HBsAg seroreactivity was 2.78% in voluntary donors and 4.84% in replacement donors. VDRL seroreactivity is 1.12% in replacement donors. No malarial parasite and HCV seroreactive donor was found in our study period. We have found the magnitude of hepatitis to be far more than that of HIV. Hence testing for HCV routinely is mandatory, besides HBsAg. INTRODUCTION Safe blood in adequate quantity has become all the more important due to increasing dangers of AIDS and other transmissible infections.1 HIV/AIDS has acquired pandemic proportion. Estimate by WHO for current infection rate in Asia suggest that about 1 in 250 adults is infected with virus. Therefore the need for testing for HIV infection has become crucial for surveillance, prevention and screening of donated blood.2 The hepatitis virus is 7 times more prevalent than HIV. The test for VDRL reactivity and malarial parasite is mandatory but transmission of these diseases through blood transfusion is very low.3 MATERIAL AND METHODS The present study was carried out at S. R.T. Rural Medical College and Hospital Blood Bank, District Beed. This is a 500-bed hospital situated in rural area of Marathwada region. Data from January 1996 to December 2001 has been analyzed to find out seroreactivity rates and trends in different groups of blood donors in rural population. Anonymous testing of blood bag is done, as the primary objective is to ensure safe blood transfusion. Blood collected is screened for HIV, HBsAg, HCV, Malarial Parasite and VDRL. If it is found positive the blood bag is discarded. A serological test performed on all the units collected includes ELISA testing for HIV, HBsAg, HCV and VDRL slide flocculation test. Screening for malarial parasite was done by studying Leishman stained peripheral blood smear. The categories of donors that are present in this study are voluntary and replacement. A voluntary (non-remunerative) donor is one who is not paid for the donated blood and a replacement donor is again a non remunerative donor who donates blood for a particular patient admitted in hospital. RESULTS The total number of donors in the study period of 6 years i.e. from January 1996 to December 2001 was 12,240. Of these voluntary donors constituted 4527 (36.98%) and the remaining was 7713 (63.02%) replacement donors. 11602 (94.78%) of the donors were males and rest of the donors were females 638 (5.22%) with male to female ratio 18:1. The donors age ranged from 18-55 years with an average age group of 30 - 40 years. The donors were from different socio-economic status. Voluntary donation was very low 140 (6.92%) in 1996 and it steadily increased to reach up to 1700 (74.7%) in the year 2001. The seroreactivity for HIV was 1.56% in voluntary donors and 2.11 % in replacement donors. The seroreactivity is predominantly more in male than female donors. The seroreactivity for HBsAg in voluntary blood donors was 2.78% and in replacement donors 4.84%. The HCV testing for donors was started in our blood bank from June 2001 but uptill now no HCV positive donor was found. VDRL seroreactivity was found to be 1.12% in replacement donors and quite less in voluntary donors (0.33%). All smears screened for malarial parasite was negative. The concurrent rates for seroreactivity were highest for HBsAg than HIV and VDRL. The HIV seroreactivity rate was slightly more in the replacement donors in the year 1996 (2.44%) and 1998 (2.30%) than in voluntary donors. DISCUSSION Das et al3 2000 reported 0.02% HIV seroreactivity in Punjab during 1987-1992. They further reported HIV seroreactivity 0.26% and 0.4% in Manipal in 1994 and 1997 respectively and 0.28% at Varanashi during 1997-98.4 These figures are very low as compared to our study. The reasons why seroreactivity among blood donors in rural population is high while voluntary donation is less may be: 1. Though properly selected, donors conceal relevant history. 2. No prior testing of individual. 3. ELISA test may be false positive and no repeat ELISA is done by other kit. 4. Ill-equipped and lack of trained staff in blood transfusion services. 5. Lack of internal and external quality control programme for safe and effective blood transfusion services. 6. Unavailability of recent technique used in transfusion services. 7. Illiteracy, lack of personal hygiene and ignorance of disease amongst donors. 8. Lack of sex education. In the initial period of our study the voluntary blood donation was very much less but when Central and Maharashtra State Govt. launched the voluntary blood donation drive programme, which was strictly implemented, it resulted in increased voluntary blood donation and decreased seroreactivity. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author thanks the Dean of this institute, In-charge of Blood Bank, Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, for granting permission to conduct this study. REFERENCES
Copyright 2003 - Indian Journal of Medical Sciences. |
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