Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2012 August, Vol-6(6): 959-962 959 959 ID: JCDR/2012/4541:2310 Prevalence of Markers of Hepatitis C virus among the Blood Donors Key Words: Hepatitis C, Prevalence, Donors, ELISA(Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay), TTI (Transfusion Transmitted Infection) ABSTRACT Introduction: Hepatitis C infections continue to be a threat to safe transfusion practices. We analyzed the prevalence and trends of the Hepatitis C infection among voluntary and replace- ment donors in a 6.5 years retrospective study from January 2005 till June 2011 at the blood bank at Sri Guru Ram Das Insti- tute of Medical Sciences And Research, Vallah, Amritsar, India. The donors were evaluated for the sero prevalence of the Hepa- titis- C virus (HCV). Methods: A total of 35793 healthy blood donations which were collected from January 2005 to July 2011 were screened for anti -HCV antibodies by using third and fourth generation (for confir- mation) ELISA kits (HCV Microlisa; J. Mitra/ Eliscan HCV; RFCL Qualisa HCV; Qualpro) with a reported sensitivity and a specific- ity of 100% each (for the fourth generation kits). Results: Out of these, 7089(19.8%) were voluntary donors and 28704 (80.1%) were replacement donors. 493 blood donors test- ed positive for HCV. The average prevalence in percentage was found to be 1.38%. The prevalence rate showed a decline from 2.03% in 2005 to 0.87% by June 2011. The statistical analysis which was done by using the Chi-square test (51.193), demon- strated that the decreasing trend in the prevalence of HCV was statistically significant. Conclusion: The screening of blood products is the only way to prevent the transfusion associated complications and this should be rigorously implemented. There is a need to stress more strin- gent donor selection criteria to ensure a safer blood supply. The health authorities need to include hepatitis C on their radar as a disease which can result in significant morbidity and mortality in the years to come. HARJOT KAUR, MRIDU MANJARI, RICHA GHAY THAMAN, GAGANDEEP SINGH INTRODUCTION The use of blood transfusion in clinical practice has brought un- told benefits to countless individuals, but simultaneously, unsafe transfusion practices carry the risk of transmitting life- threatening Transfusion – Transmissible Infections [1]. The strategies which were used to reduce Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTI) have been extremely effective. Some of the strategies include improv- ing the donor selection, testing the donated blood for antibodies for infectious agents, reducing the exposure to allogenic blood by the use of autologous transfusions and changing the transfusion guidelines to use blood more conservatively [2]. TTI is a major concern to the patients, physicians and the policy makers who wish to see a risk free blood supply. Hepatitis C is the major cause of acute hepatitis after a blood transfusion, that is neither related to Hepatitis A nor to Hepa- titis B. It was first detected in 1989 by the extensive testing of serum from experimentally infected animals by using molecular biology techniques [3]. Later, it was characterized to be a small, enveloped, RNA virus which belonged to the flavin family. An im- portant feature of the HCV genome is its high degree of genetic variability and the different mutants of the parent strains which co exist as quasi species in a single infected individual. The genomic instability and the antigenic variability have seriously hampered Original Article Pathology Section the efforts which were made for developing an HCV vaccine. It has been estimated that 3% of the world’s population or that al- most 200 million individuals have chronic HCV infection [4]. Sev- eral studies on voluntary and mixed blood donors have noted a prevalence of hepatitis of below 2% in India [5,6]. Punjab has been found to have the maximum number of HCV carriers due to the use of unsterilized syringes and recycled nee- dles by drug abusers and lack of awareness about the prevention and the treatment of this disease [7]. More recently, blood trans- fusion has emerged as one of the most common transmission pathways of HCV, which is the major cause of acute hepatitis after a blood transfusion, that is neither related to Hepatitis A nor to Hepatitis B. Serosurveys one of the primary methods to deter- mine the prevalence of the HCV seorpositivity. The assessment of the infection thereby helps in determining the safety of the blood products. The present study was a six and a half year retrospective study. It presented the data on the seroprevalence of the Hepatitis C virus among the voluntary and the replacement donors in the Amritsar district of Punjab, in a teaching tertiary care hospital. This study gave an overview of the epidemiology/prevalence of Hepatitis C in this part of the country. The aim of this study was to lay stress on enhancing the standards of the blood banking system and to