Trends in seroprevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, and syphilis infections in Iranian blood donors from 2003 to 2005.

Abstract

E trends in blood donor infectious disease rates is essential for monitoring blood supply safety and donor screening effectiveness. Monitoring the incidence of transfusiontransmission infections in blood donors is important for estimating the risk of transfusion and optimizing donor recruitment strategies to minimize transmission. The blood transfusion service of Islamic Republic of Iran requires that all donations of whole blood, plasma, and transfusable components for fractionation into injectable derivatives should take serologic tests for syphilis, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by a sensitive and specific test, antibody to hepatitis C virus (antiHCV), antibody to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-Ab), and VDRL. Collecting facilities are prepared to provide reported testing of all reactive tests for hepatitis, HIV, and syphilis infections. The samples are retested in duplicate in a single test run;