Rising trends of HCV infection over a period of 4 years among blood donors in central India: A retrospective study

Objective: The aim of the study was to find out the sero-prevalence of Hepatitis C infection among blood donors. Materials and Methods: All collected blood bags were screened for anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies (HCV Ab; MicroELISA 3rd generation, J. Mitra) during the study period of 4 years and data were analyzed. Results: A total of 28621 blood donors were screened for transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) in which 80 donors were positive for Hepatitis C infection, constituted 11% of total sero-reactive donors. In 2009, only 10 cases were sero-reactive while in 2012, 36 cases were sero-reactive for Hepatitis C infection. Conclusions: Hepatitis C infection among blood donors are in rising trends in this study area. Voluntary donors are safer than replacement donors as they have very low sero-prevalence. As these blood donors represent the highly selective community of a general population in most of the countries. So the actual sero-prevalence of hepatitis C infection may be more in the general population. Promoting HCV screening, voluntary blood donation, diagnosis and treatment among blood donors are very important measures to control the transmission of HCV infection, decrease sero-reactive cases and ensure safe blood collection.