5th International AIDS Conference


Montreal, Quebec, Canada — Jun 4-9, 1989

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Lack of association between frequency of blood donation and seropositivity for HIV and other infections; an unexpected finding in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil.

Int Conf AIDS 1989 Jun 4-9; 5:169 (abstract no. A.549)
Ramos Filho CF, Perez MA, Chain R, Martins FS, Jesus VC, Martins CN; Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (RJ) Brazil

OBJECTIVE: Due to the importance of blood transmission in the diffusion of infectious disease in RJ we have performed this study in order to better understand blood transmitted disease and frequency of blood donation.

METHODS: 2,858 (non-paid) blood donors (18 to 60 years old) from the hemotherapeutic center of our hospital, between January and June 1987 were submitted to VDRL, ELISA-ABBOTT (HIV), Complement Fixation (Chagas) and RIA (HBsAg). An extensive questionnaire was submitted by a trained nurse in order to determine possible risk factors. Chi Square test and confidence limits were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: The prevalence among blood donors (95% confidence interval) was found to be 4.45% for Lues (3.69-5.21); 0.56% for Chagas (0.29-0.83); 0.7% for HBsAg (0.39-1.1); 0.21% for HIV (0.04-0.38); The overall reaction for at least one of these infections was 5.67% (4.82-6.52). There was no statistical significance (p less than 0.05) between frequency of blood donation and seropositivity for HIV, Chagas and HBsAg. Statistically significant results were found for Lues and blood donation frequency (X2=7.75 p less than 0.001). We have also tested for possible association among the positive blood samples, in which Chagas and HBsAg were statistically significant (X2=51.46 p less than 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Our results show that the association between frequency of blood donation and reaction to most of the disease studied was very poor as it was for sexually and blood transmitted disease. Findings about Chagas and HBsAg were unexpected.

Keywords: AEGIS, Blood Donors, HIV, Hepatitis B Surface Antigens, Blood Banks, Infection, Chagas Disease, Prevalence, HIV Infections, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Risk Factors, HIV Seroprevalence, HIV Seropositivity, Serologic Tests, Viremia, Brazil, epidemiology, diagnosis, transmission, blood, ICA5

890604
A549

Copyright © 1989 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.