Seroprevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV Infections Among College Going First Time Voluntary Blood Donors

Objective: College going first time voluntary blood donors were tested for HBV, HCV and HIV infections, to know the seroprevalence of these diseases among them.

Method: Blood donation camps were organized at 18 colleges and universities of the city and a total of 612 samples from first time donors were tested for HbsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV1, 2 antibodies on Abbott Diagnostic systems.

Results: Thirteen voluntary blood donors (2.21% with 95% confidence limit 1.2-3.52%) were HbsAg and 3 (0.5% with 95% confidence limit 0.12-1.33%) were anti HCV positive. None of the donors was positive for HIV infection.

Conclusion: Seroprevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV infections among college going students is significantly low (< 3.0%) than 30% seroprevalence among paid donors and 7% among family/replacement blood donors. There is a need to educate, motivate and recruit college going students to regularly donate blood to ensure relatively safe supply of blood for transfusion services.