Abstract

BACKGROUND: Evaluation and monitoring the prevalence of transfusion-transmissible viral infections in blood donors is a valuable index of donor selection and blood safety. This study analyzed the trends of blood-borne infections among Iranian blood donations during 4 years. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Viral screening results of 6,499,851 allogeneic donations from 2004 through 2007 were analyzed. All donations were screened for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and syphilis. The prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HIV infections per 100,000 donations and 95 confidence interval was calculated. The p value was estimated by chi-square test. RESULTS: The prevalences of HBV, HCV, and HIV decreased during the 4-year study from 2004 through 2007. The overall prevalence was 0.56 for HBV, 0.004 for HIV, and 0.13 for HCV. There was a significant and impressive decrease in hepatitis B surface antigen prevalence from 0.73 in 2004 to 0.41 in 2007. The prevalence of HIV appeared to have decreased from 0.005 in 2004 to 0.004 in 2007 although the decrease was not significant. HCV prevalence showed a slight decline in blood donations from 0.14 in 2005 to 0.12 in 2007. CONCLUSION: The trends of transfusion-transmitted infection prevalence in Iranian blood donations suggest that most of the safety measures employed in recent years in Iran have been effective.