Seroprevalence of HBsAg, Anti-HCV and RPR in Blood Donors in Denizli, Turkey

Objective: In this study, donors who applied to the Blood Center in a nine-year period were retrospectively evaluated to determine the prevalence of HBsAg, anti-HCV, anti-HIV 1/2 and syphilis. Methods: In this study, serologic test results of blood donors at Denizli State Hospital between 1999 and 2007 were evaluated. The donors accepted for this study were between 18 and 65 years old. A standard questionnaire was completed by all donors and high-risk donors were excluded. Results: A total of 50,521 donors were tested. The seropositivity rates among all of the donors for HBsAg, anti-HCV and rapid plasma reagin (RPR) were found to be 0.97%, 0.44%, and 0.14%, respectively. HBsAg and RPR seropositivities were found to be significantly lower in recent years (p<0.001). The prevalence of anti-HCV was not found to be significantly low in recent years (p>0.05). 63.1% (45,000 ) of the donations were used as whole blood and 36.8% (26,466) were processed as blood components. Totally, the prevalence rates of voluntary donors were lower than those of replacement donors. However, both voluntary donors and the usage rates of the blood components have increased in recent years (p<0.001). Conclusions: There is no screening method for reducing the risk resulting from transfusion to zero. For this reason, it is essential to adopt strict criteria in the selection of donors and to avoid unnecessary transfusion.