Yashica Gowda R, Suja Ajoy Kumar, Karthik Srevatsa,
Volume 19, Issue 2 (3-2025)
Abstract
INTRODUCTION :
The importance of blood transfusion can be described by the phrase “Its not just blood, its liquid life”.But it has its own risks if blood safety is not ensured. Among which transmission of Hepatitis B infection is highly contagious.(1) Inspite of the availability of effective vaccine against Hepatitis B virus ,this remains a major public health concern due to its high infectivity, & chronicity.(2)
AIMS :
To determine the trend of HBSAg seropositivity among blood donor population during 5 year period & its prevalence among voluntary and replacement donors.
MATERIALS & METHODS:
This study was conducted at a licensed blood centre of a tertiary care hospital. A retrospective review of blood donor data of 5 years was extracted. All donated blood was screened for the presence of HBSAg using commercially available ELISA kits. All repeatedly reactive samples were labelled seropositive. The data was analysed for the trends in prevalence of HBSAg over the study period.
RESULTS:
A total of 18,139 apparently healthy donors were screened during the study period. Among them 11,517 were replacement donors & 6,622 were voluntary donors. The overall prevalence of HBSAg seropositivity was 0.66% which was more in replacement blood donors(0.46%).Also, we found a decline in the incidence of HBSAg among donors over the five year study duration.
CONCLUSION:
. To conclude, promoting and encouraging voluntary blood donation is a simple and effective way to reduce the prevalence of all Transfusion transmitted Infections.
