Prevalence and prevalence trends of transfusion transmissible infections among blood donors at four chinese regional blood centers between 2000 and 2010

Abstract

BackgroundIn China, high prevalence of HBV and HCV parallels with the growing epidemic of syphilis and HIV in the general population poses a great threat to blood safety. This study investigated the prevalence of serologic markers for transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) among four Chinese blood centers.MethodsWe examined whole blood donations collected from January 2000 through December 2010 at four Chinese blood centers. Post-donation testing of TTIs (HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis) were conducted using two different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits for each seromarker. The prevalence of serologic markers for TTIs (%) was calculated and additional analysis was conducted to examine donor characteristics associated with positive TTIs serology.ResultsOf the 4,366,283 donations, 60% were from first-time donors and 40% were from repeated donors. The overall prevalence of HIV, HBsAg, HCV and syphilis was 0.08%, 0.86%, 0.51% and 0.47%, respectively. The prevalence profile of TTIs varied among different blood centers and appeared at relatively high levels. Overall, the prevalence of HBsAg and HCV demonstrated a decline trend among four blood centers, while the prevalence of HIV and syphilis displayed three different trends: constantly steady, continually increasing and declining among different centers.ConclusionsThis study reflects the risk of TTIs has been greatly reduced in China, but blood transfusion remains an ongoing risk factor for the spread of blood-borne infections, and further work and improvements are needed to strengthen both safety and availability of blood in China.

Blood Donor Management in China

“…A study in the five Chinese blood centers participating in the Retroviral Epidemiological Donor Study II International - China (REDS-II China) found that among the 226,489 whole blood donors, the majority (94%) of them were younger than 45 years, and half (52%) were younger than 25 years [7]. The result is comparable to a study in four large blood centers which found that approximately half (49%) of the donors were 25 years or younger, and only 8% were older than 45 years [3]. A study in a province capital blood center found that among the 381,185 donors who donated whole blood between 2008 and 2012, 61% of them were younger than 25 years [32].…”

“…For example, the blood donation rate in China is still low at 9‰ of the whole population, which is much lower than the WHO-recommended level of 10-30‰ [3]. The required donation interval between whole blood donations is relatively long, and whole blood donation volume per donation is relatively small when compared to other countries.…”

“…As shown in figure 1, the number of donors and the proportion of voluntary non-remunerated donations has increased over time, for both whole blood and platelets [2]. 2011 statistics reveal the country's total whole blood collection volume at 4,164 tons (approximately 12.32 million whole blood donations) and voluntary non-remunerated donations at 99%, with many cities having achieved 100% [3]. …”

Risk Factors for Transfusion Transmissible Infections Elicited on Post Donation Counselling in Blood Donors: Need to Strengthen Pre-donation Counselling

“…A notable observation of serious concern, was that higher TTI reactivity was observed in repeat donors (1.4 %, n = 32,037) as compared to first time donors (0.63 %, n = 51,828) as depicted in Table 1. This is in sharp contrast to what is usually reported in literature [16][17][18]. However the Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS) reports that incidence rates of TTI are not necessarily lower in whole blood donors who donate regularly and more frequently.…”

Seroprevalence of Transfusion based Transmissible Infections among Clinically Healthy Donors in the Community of Multan, Pakistan

“…Likely, comparing the results with another study of Pakistan highlighted the increased prevalence of HBV among blood donors in the present study (Shah et al, 2010). Whereas, the sero prevalence of TTIs among Chinese population revealed less frequencies of HBV and HCV (0.86%, 0.51%) as compared to that of Pakistani population (Li et al, 2012). Higher prevalence of HBV and HCV as compared to other potent infectious agents among blood donors had been accredited to the viral transmission during their window period, chronic and asymptomatic hepatitis C infections, unavailability of vaccinations and inability to detect occult HBV infection (HBV DNA in blood) through routine HBsAg testings (Khattak et al, 2002;Bhattacharya et al, 2007).…”