Blood is life. Transfusion of blood and blood components, as a specialized modality of patient management saves millions of lives worldwide each year and reduce morbidity. It is well known that blood transfusion is associated with a large number of complications, some are only trivial and others are potentially life threatening, demanding for meticulous pretransfusion testing and screening particularly for transfusion transmissible infections (TTI). These TTI are a threat to blood safety. The priority objective of BTS is thus to ensure safety, adequacy, accessibility and efficiency of blood supply at all levels. The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence and trend of transfusion transmitted infections (TTI) among voluntary and replacement donors in the Department of Blood bank and transfusion Medicine of JSS College Hospital, a teaching hospital of Mysore during the period from 2004 to 2008. A retrospective review of donors record covering the period between 2004 and 2008 at the blood bank, JSS Hospital, Mysore was carried out. All samples were screened for HIV, HBsAg, HCV, syphilis and malaria. Of the 39,060, 25,303 (64.78%) were voluntary donors and the remaining 13,757 (35.22%) were replacement donors. The overall prevalence of HIV, HbsAg, HCV and syphilis were 0.44, 1.27, 0.23 and 0.28%, respectively. No blood donor tested showed positivity for malarial parasite. Majority were voluntary donors with male preponderance. In all the markers tested there was increased prevalence of TTI among the replacement donors as compared to voluntary donors. With the implementation of strict donor criteria and use of sensitive screening tests, it may be possible to reduce the incidence of TTI in the Indian scenario.

Dengue is an arboviral disease and occurs in tropical countries where over 2.5 billion people are at risk of infection. Each year an estimated 100 million cases of dengue fever (DF) occur and between 2.5 and 5 lakh cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are reported to WHO. Severe thrombocytopenia and increased vascular permeability are two major characteristics of DHF. A study was conducted to note the relationship between the platelet counts and severity of the disease in pediatric cases of dengue fever. Platelet counts were found to be predictive as well as recovery parameter of DF/DHF/DSS.

Of the 45 cases of clinically suspected amyloidosis, 32 cases were proven histopathologically as primary cutaneous amyloidosis and confirmed by congo red stain under polarized light which showed apple green birefringence. Among the two types of PCA, lichen amyloidosis was the most common variant accounting to 65.63% with pure cases of macular amyloidosis accounting for only 15.63%. Biphasic amyloidosis was seen in 18.75%. Knee was the commonest site of involvement with pruritis being the most common symptom. Histopathologically, the most common findings were hyperkeratosis, irregular acanthosis and expansion of dermal papillae by amyloid deposits showing apple green birefringence under polarized microscope with congo red staining. Although, H and E stain gives a clue for the diagnosis of amyloid nevertheless congo red staining under polarized light forms a very sensitive and definitive method for confirmation.