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. 2024 Oct;13(10):4394-4398.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_120_24. Epub 2024 Oct 18.

Trends of coinfections among healthy blood donors: COVID-19 pandemic repercussion

Neetu Kukar  1 , Anjali Handa  1 , Neha Syal  2 , Parul Garg  1 , Navreet S Gopalpuri  1 , Harpreet Kaur  1
Affiliations

Trends of coinfections among healthy blood donors: COVID-19 pandemic repercussion

Neetu Kukar et al. J Family Med Prim Care. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection has emerged as a leading cause of morbidity throughout the world in the last two decades. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has escalated the disease burden further by increasing the number of intravenous (IV) drug abusers and unemployment.

Aim: The present study was done to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on seroprevalence as well as trends during pre, post and pandemic years of coinfection and mono-infections in the Malwa region of Punjab.

Setting and design: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done in the department of immunohematology and blood transfusion at a tertiary care hospital.

Materials and methods: The data on transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs) was collected for a period of four years from 2019 to 2022, that is, pre, post and during the pandemic period. All the blood samples were screened for viral markers, HIV I and II, HCV, and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Malarial antigen and syphilis infection testing was done using a rapid diagnostic card test. The total number of sero-reactive cases and their distribution were noted.

Results: A total of 58,953 donors were screened and included during the study period. Each blood donor was identified by a donor registration number. The overall TTI seroprevalence in blood donors was 2.83% (n = 1670). The seroprevalence of TTIs in blood donors showed an increasing trend for HIV, HCV, and HBsAg in 2019-2021, whereas there was a decrease in reactivity status in the 2022 (back to pre-pandemic year). There was a significant increase in the coinfection rate from 0.1% to 0.25%.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic impact on the coinfection rate of TTI was significant. To curb these TTIs and coinfections, education and public awareness are the key factors. India is a developing country, so transfusion medicine specialists need to work day and night to practice safe blood services.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coinfections; transfusion-transmitted infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Month-wise distribution of TTI across the years
Figure 2
Figure 2
The trends of coinfection rates across the study period years
Figure 3
Figure 3
Month-wise distribution of coinfections (HIV+HCV) across the years
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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