HIV Seroprevalence among Blood Donors in Ilorin, Nigeria - Abstract
Introduction: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be transmitted through blood transfusion. It is therefore important to screen all blood donors properly for HIV in order to ensure the safety of all blood products that will be transfused into recipients.
Aims and Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV infection among the different types of blood donors visiting the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), and also to determine the age range and sex of HIV positive blood donors.
Method: Observational cross-sectional study among blood donors at the blood bank of UITH. A total of 208 donors were screened for HIV using GenscreenTM ULTRA HIV-1 Ag/Ab EIA kits. A total of 164 (78.8%) donors were family replacement, 27 (13%) were paid while 17 (8.2%) were voluntary unremunerated.
Result: The overall prevalence of p24 antigen was 6.7%. There was no prevalence among females, all the positive donors were males, and they all fell within the 21-40 years age group. Prevalence of p24 antigen was significantly higher among paid donors (11.1%) compared to family replacement donors (6.7%) and voluntary donors (0%) (P = 0.002).
In conclusion, this study showed a high prevalence of HIV infection in the studied population, exclusively among paid and family replacement donors. There is therefore a need for proper screening of blood donors as well as encouraging voluntary blood donation in order to ensure the safety of transfused blood products.