Risk of Transfusion Transmissible Infections: Our Experience in a Tertiary Health Care Facility in North-central, Nigeria

Nwannadi IA,^1*  Swende TZ,²  Mke A,¹ Okoli R,¹ Aba HI,¹ Okolie I.¹

¹Department of Haematology, College of Health Sciences, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria.

²Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, College of Health Sciences, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria.

*Correspondence

Nwannadi IA

Email: inwannadi@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract

The risk of transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) is a challenge in most developing countries. We investigated the risk of transfusing infected blood following screening with the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) technique. Blood donors were initially screened for human immune-deficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and syphilis   using the rapid diagnostic test. Five hundred and forty (540) of them negative to the RDT for the four agents were subsequently screened with Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A total of 72 (13.3%) prospective donors that tested negative to RDT for the TTIs tested positive to the ELISA technique. Further analysis showed that twenty-three (4.3%) donors were positive to HIV, 23 (4.3%) to hepatitis B, 20 (3.7%) to hepatitis C and 6 (1.1%) to VDRL. Three donors (0.6%) were found to be positive to both HIV/HBV, 3(0.6%) to HIV/ HCV, 2 (0.4%) each to HIV/VDRL, HBV/ HCV and HBV/VDRL. There were no correlations of ELISA positivity with gender, age, marital status, blood group and the packed cell volume of the donors. The risk of transfusing infected blood using rapid diagnostic test (RDT) technique for screening is high. This can be significantly reduced by using ELISA testing techniques for screening blood for transfusion. All blood transfusion centres in Nigeria should as a matter of urgency commence the screening of blood donors with ELISA in order to curb the spread of these infectious agents.

Keywords: ELISA, Rapid Diagnostic Testing Technique, Risk, Transfusion Transmissible Infections.