Transfusion Transmissible Infections in Blood Donors in the Province of Bié, Angola, during a 15-Year Follow-Up, Imply the Need for Pathogen Reduction Technologies

Transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs), caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV), human immunode-ficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and syphilis, have a high global impact, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We evaluated the trend of these infections over time in blood donors in Angola. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted among blood donors in Angola from 2005 to 2020. Additionally, frozen samples obtained from blood donors in 2007 were investigated to identify chronic HCV carriers and possible occult HBV infection (OBI). The overall prevalence of HBV, HCV, HIV, and syphilis was 8.5, 3, 2.1, and 4.4%, respectively, among 57,979 blood donors. HBV was predominant among male donors, while the remaining TTIs were predominant among women. Donors >50 years had a significantly high prevalence for all TTIs. Chronic HCV infection was ab-sent in 500 samples tested and OBI was present in 3%. Our results show the continued high prev-alence of TTIs among blood donors in Angola. Most infections showed a significantly low preva-lence in years with campaigns seeking voluntary blood donors, thus, reinforcing the importance of this type of donor to ensure safe blood. Africa, with a high prevalence of diverse pathogens, should consider cost-effective pathogen reduction technologies, once they are commercially accessible, to increase the availability of safe blood.

Characteristics and Frequency of Hepatitis C among Children With Β-Thalassemia Visiting Tertiary Care Hospital

Aim: To find the characteristics and frequency of hepatitis C among children with β-Thalassemia. Methodology: It was a cross sectional type of study conducted in tertiary care hospital of Bahawalpur for a period of 6 months from from January 2021 to June 2021. Sample size was 51 patients. Patients suffering from β-Thalassemia and were undergoing blood transfusions in large amounts were included. Results: β-Thalassemia is more common in Males (67%) than females (33%) with most of the cases detected in the patients who were living in rural areas (61%). Moreover, with the increase in number of transfusions the threat of HCV increases. Conclusion: Blood transfusion is a lifesaving intervention. There is a need to pay an immediate attention towards the bio safety practice in both the public and private sector blood banks. There must be strict rules and regulations for safe blood transfusions in Pakistan. Keywords: Thalassemia; HCV; Blood transfusion; HB electrophoresis

Profile of apheresis donors at Professor Alberto Antunes University Hospital of the Federal University of Alagoas

Hemotherapy services play a key role in attracting donors and providing safe blood to the population. The apheresis platelet collection procedure is a relatively simple, safe and important procedure for increasing the stocks of these services. However, the recruitment and retention of these donors still represent a major challenge. Objective: Evaluating the profile of donors of blood components by apheresis in the Transfusion Unit of Professor Alberto Antunes University Hospital - UFAL, as well as knowing the hematological parameters pre- and post-donation, the occurrence of the main adverse events related to the procedure and the difficulties faced by the donor. Method: This was a cross-sectional observational study. We analyzed a total of 160 forms of apheresis donors from March 2017 to June 2018. The data were tabulated using the Excel program, and then analyzed in order to determinethe objectives. Results: Most donors were male (93.13%), aged between 25 and 40 years (48.75%) and brown (25.62%). There was a slight prevalence of singles (49.37%) and 73.75% were from Maceió. The most prevalent ABO and Rh phenotyping was O+ (39.3%). Most of the procedures were simple platelet collection (75.60%) and the occurrence of adverse events during donations was 30.63%. Conclusion: Evaluation of apheresis donor profile and the knowledge of the possible side effects related to the procedure provided a better understanding of this type of donation and may improve the capture and retention processes of these individuals, minimizing the effects of lack of blood for Alagoana population.

Structural Quality of Labour and Delivery Care in Government Hospitals of Ethiopia: A Descriptive Analysis

Background Ethiopia has low skilled birth attendance rates coupled with low quality of care within health facilities contributing to one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 412 deaths per 100,000 live births. There is lack of evidence on the readiness of health facilities to deliver quality labour and delivery (L&D) care. This paper describes the structural quality of routine L&D care in government hospitals of Ethiopia. Methods A facility-based cross-sectional study design, involving census of all government hospitals in Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) (N = 20) was conducted in November 2016 through facility audit using a structured checklist. Data collectors verified the availability and functioning of the required items through observation and interview with the heads of labour and delivery case team. An overall mean score of structural quality was calculated considering domain scores such as general infrastructure, human resource and essential drugs, supplies, equipment and laboratory services. Summary statistics such as proportion, mean and standard deviation were computed to describe the degree of adherence of the hospitals to the standards related to structural quality of routine labour and delivery care. Results One third of hospitals had low readiness to provide quality routine L&D care, with only two approaching near fulfilment of all the standards. Hospitals had fulfilled 68.5% of the standards for the structural aspects of quality of L&D care. Of the facility audit criteria, the availability of essential equipment and supplies for infection prevention scored the highest (88.8%), followed by safety, comfort and woman friendliness of the environment (78.9%). Availability skilled health professionals and quality management practices scored 72.5% each, while availability of the required items of general infrastructure was 64.6%. The two critical domains with the lowest score were availability of essential drugs, supplies and equipment (52.2%); and laboratory services and safe blood supply (50%). Conclusion Substantial capacity gaps were observed in the hospitals challenging the provision of quality routine L&D care services, with only two thirds of required resources available. The largest gaps were in laboratory services and safe blood, and essential drugs, supplies and equipment. The results suggest the need to ensure that all public hospitals in SNNPR meet the required structure to enable the provision of quality routine L&D care with emphases on the identified gaps.

EVALUATION OF REASONS OF PRE-DONATION BLOOD DONOR DEFERRAL IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALAT DHAKA

Background: Our aim is to evaluate reasons of donor deferral in tertiary care hospital to nd new disease distribution, any areas of negligence in part of donor or history taking physicians and human errors which could be easily correctable and benecial for donors to remain healthy and provide safe blood. Methodology: This is a retrospective analytic study carried out during the period of January to December 2015 at Department of Transfusion Medicine, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital. After preliminary registration, each donor was either selected or deferred by medical ofcers. The donor selection and deferral criteria were according to the standard operating procedure. Detailed information of reason of deferral was recorded. Results:Among 10056 registered donors, 9453 (94.004%) were eligible for donation and 603 (5.996%) blood donors were deferred due to various reasons. Male donors were 7526 (74.84%) more than female 2530 (25.16%). Females (60.03%) were found to have higher deferral rate than male population (39.97%). Low hemoglobin was found to be leading cause constituting 17.58% followed by hypertension 15.26%, medications 12.11% and underweight 11.28%. Conclusion: Deferral may discourage the donor for subsequent donations, especially young rst time donors. Deferred donors should be properly counseled and educated for probable future donations. By knowing the causes of deferral we can take further steps to prevent those causes and can preserve precious blood and blood components.

RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF PREVALENCE OF HIV IN BLOOD DONORS AT A.D.GORWALA BLOOD BANK

Background: India has the second highest HIV population in the world with about 2.5-3.0 million cases. Blood transfusion saves millions of lives worldwide each year but Blood transfusion is an important mode of transmission of infections to recipients and at the same time it is also associated with large number of complications including transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs). Aims & objective: to study the prevalence of HIVin blood donors of A.D.Gorwala Blood bank From January 2005 To December 2010. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted among blood donors through the years 2005-2010. Sera from blood donors were tested for the detection of Anti HIV by using third generation ELISA tests, strictly following the instruction of manufacturers. The donor information was collected through the donor registers from A.D. Gorwala Blood Bank. Result: From the total of 28,371 screened blood samples collected, the prevalence of HIV in blood donors in the blood bank was 0.23% in the ve consecutive years but the trend of HIV infection has decreased from 2005(0.31%) to 2010 (0.04%). The age groups18-30 has the highest prevalence and the age group 51-60 was the lowest prevalence of HIV infection. The Prevalence of HIV among male (0.18%) was higher than in female donors (0.05%). The trend of HIVinfection was decreasing for both male and female blood donors. Conclusion: The analysis of HIV seroprevalence among blood donors through the year 2005- 2010 showed a signicantly decreasing trend, probably due to the cumulative effect of increasing awareness of HIVand improved screening system for safe blood donation.