Work

Prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections in blood donors from Piaui State, Northeastern Brazil

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Assessing the prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) in blood donors recruited at Hematology and Hemotherapy Center of Piauí Sate (HEMOPI) in 2021. METHODS: Ecological study based on secondary data of all blood donations carried out at Hematology and Hemotherapy Center of Piauí State (Northeastern Brazil), in 2021. The following data were collected: donors' sex, age, location (distributed in four geographical Health Macro-regions, namely: Coastal, Mid-Northern, Semiarid and Cerrado); serological test results for hepatitis B (anti-HBc and HBsAg) and C (anti-HCV), human T-lymphotropic virus (anti-HTLV I/II), HIV (anti-HIV I/II), Chagas disease (Anti-T. cruzi IgG) and syphilis (Anti-T. pallidum IgG); and molecular test results (HBV, HCV and HIV). RESULTS: The total of 44.488 blood donations were included in the study, and 1.183 (2.7 %) of them tested reactive for at least one TTI biomarker. According to the sociodemographic profile, 65.8 % of the reactive samples were from the Mid-Northern and Coastal regions; 41.3 %, from individuals in the age group 16-29 years; and 60.5 %, from male donors. Syphilis and HBV were the most prevalent TTIs in all analyzed regions. CONCLUSIONS: The aliquot of 2.7 % of blood donations registered in Piauí State were reactive to some TTI biomarker. Differences in TTI prevalence were observed among the assessed macro-regions; the highest rates were identified in specific geographic areas and in individuals belonging to the male sex, in the age group 16-29 years. The present findings show that risk assessments for these infections are important tools to help monitoring blood supply safety and assessing the effectiveness of currently used screening procedures.

Source: Journal of Infection and Public Health

DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2025.102988