Prevalence and pattern of transfusion transmitted infections among blood donors visiting a tertiary care hospital, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to assess the prevalence and patterns of HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis among blood donors in Pakistan.

METHODS

Data records of all registered blood donors (n = 63,847) during August 2020-April 2025, at a blood transfusion center in a tertiary care hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Prevalence of the seropositive donors for HIV, HCV, HBV and Syphilis was analyzed.

RESULTS

The donors ranged in age from 18 years to over 65 years, with the vast majority being male (99.47%). Overall prevalence of TTIs was 2.04% in the donor population. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) was the most prevalent TTI (1.12%; 95% CI: 1.04–1.20), followed by hepatitis C virus (HCV) (0.49%; 95% CI: 0.44–0.55), syphilis (0.36%; 95% CI: 0.32–0.41), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (0.07%; 95% CI: 0.05–0.09) respectively. Replacement donations accounted for 59.34% of the total. The largest proportion of donors (48.7%) were aged 26–35 years. The highest annual donation volume occurred in 2023, with 13,534 donors. The most frequent coinfections were HBV–HCV and HBV–syphilis, with seven cases each.

CONCLUSION

Among blood donors, HBV was the most prevalent transfusion-transmitted infection, followed by HCV. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.