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

Assessing the prevalence of transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) in blood donors recruited at Hematology and Hemotherapy Center of Piauí Sate (HEMOPI) in 2021.

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).

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.

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.