DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i11.043

Pages: 4074-4077

Blood is life and blood transfusion saves millions of lives worldwide each year and reduces morbidity. Blood transfusion is associated with a large number of complications, some of them are trivial and others are potentially life threatening which demand pre-transfusion screening and testing particularly transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs). These TTIs are a major problem associated with blood transfusion practice. The estimate of risk of TTIs is essential for monitoring the safety of blood components available for transfusion and to evaluate the success of screening procedures. A retrospective study of the data of healthy blood donors was conducted at blood bank of Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar, Punjab. The blood donors who donated blood from January, 2011 till December, 2015 were included in this study. The data was analyzed statistically using SPSS software version 20. Out of total 22,645 healthy blood donors, there were 22,443 (99.1%) male and 202 (0.9%) female; 9,793 (43.2%) voluntary and 12,852 (56.8%) replacement donors. 2.68% blood donors tested positive for TTIs and the incidence of five routinely tested TTIs was HBsAg 0.58%, Anti-HCV 1.05%, Anti-HIV 0.15%, VDRL 0.88% and malaria 0.01%. From year 2011 to year 2015, the trend of anti-HCV and VDRL was upsloping whereas that of HBsAg and anti-HIV down sloping. Malaria was positive only in the year 2012. With the implementation of strict donor criteria, and use of sensitive screening tests, it may be possible to reduce the incidence of TTIs.