Estimation of Transfusion Transmissible Infections in Blood Donors of District Peshawar: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Blood transfusion is ascertained as a life-saving practice, globally saving millions of lives per year. Transfusion transmissible infection (TTI) is any infection transferred from donor to recipient by blood or blood product through parenteral administration. Due to unsafe transfusion, acute clinical illness, asymptomatic infection or persistent carriers of any infection are the most commonly observed outcomes.Objective: The current study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of TTIs in blood donors.Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at New Bangash Clinical Laboratory, Haideri Blood Bank & Welfare Hospital, in collaboration with the Microbiology department of Comwave Institute, Islamabad. Blood donors’ serum samples were screened through an ICT kit, followed by confirmation by ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Results: In the current study duration total of 380 donors were visited and tested for TTIs, among which 291/380 (77%) were males, and the remaining 89/380 (23%) were females belonging to various age groups. Among the total 50/380 (13.15%) donors were found positive for HbsAg, 20/380 (5.2%) were positive for Anti-HCV and 2/380 (0.53%) showed co-Infection upon ELISA screening. The current study also finds that the urban population was more infected by transfusion-transmitted infections than the rural population. Co-infection prevalence is also found to be high in the urban population. Conclusion: Transfusion-transmitted infections are also highly prevalent in District Peshawar.  Individual hepatitis B and C viral infection, as well as coinfection in a few samples, were also found in the current study.