Evaluation of serologic markers for transfusion trasmitted infectious diseases for allogeneic blood donors in Puerto Rico

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this project is to assess the prevalence of serologic markers for transfusion transmitted infectious disease in allogeneic blood donors of the American Red Cross Blood Services (ARCBS) in Puerto Rico. Four hundred records were randomly selected from a population of 7718 first time volunteer donors from the ARCBS in P.R. covering the period from Jan. 1st to Jun. 30th, 1991. Variables obtained were age, sex, presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B anti-core antibody (anti-HBc), hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV), HIV 1/2 antibody, HTLV I/II antibody, RPR reactivity and ALT. The prevalence of serologic markers in our study is consistently higher than that found in similar studies in the U.S. population, except for HBsAg and HCV. This could be explained with the use of data from only first time volunteer donors since the prevalence is higher in this group than in repeat donors. None of the donors in this sample were positive for HBsAg probably due to the small sample. The prevalence of anti-HCV in this study is within the values found for the U.S. population.