Human Immunodeficiency Virus,Syphilis,Hepatitis B And C Among Blood Donors At University Teaching Hospital Of Kamenge Blood Bank In Burundi

Background:The Republic of Burundi is a small,landlocked country in the African Great Lakes region bordering Lake Tanganyika.The country shares borders with Rwanda,Tanzania,and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.With an estimated population of 11.6 million in 2019,Infectious diseases like Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV),Syphilis,Hepatitis B(HBV)and C(HCV)have a great burden in this country and there is a lack of studies to know their impact on Burundi health system,especially in matter of blood transfusion.Objective:The general objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of HIV,Syphilis,HBV and HCV from 2015 to 2020 among blood donors of University Teaching Hospital of Kamenge(CHUK)blood bank in Burundi.Methodology:We conducted a cross-sectional study including all blood donors of CHUK blood bank for a period from January 2015 to December 2020.All blood donations collected during the study period where screened for HIV,Syphilis,HBV and HCV.Data from all blood donors were collected and entered into Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and exported into SPSS software for analysis.The seroprevalence of HIV,Syphilis,HBV and HCV was calculated and compared in different sociodemographic characteristics.P value<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:In this study,1370 blood samples were screened for four transfusion-transmitted infections.Of all blood donors 1055(77%)were males and 315(23%)were females.On screening,78 blood samples(5.69%)were seropositive for at least HIV,Syphilis,HBV or HCV.The overall seroprevalence rate of HIV,Syphilis,HBV and HCV among blood donors was 1.3%,1.5%,2.7%and 0.1%respectively.The most prevalent among these four transfusion transmitted infections is HCV,the less prevalent being syphilis.HIV prevalence is very high in age group of those under 24 years old(p value=0.048)and syphilis in government employees(p value=0.039).There was statistical difference which is significant when comparison was made in some sociodemographic characteristics.Conclusion:The found seroprevalence of transfusion-transmitted infectious in this study calls for mandatory and continuous screening of human immunodeficiency virus,Syphilis,hepatitis B and C virus among blood donors in Burundi to ensure the safety and quality of blood transfusion.There is lack of studies published on diseases studied in this research work in Burundi;we suggest further studies to identify key risk factors for blood-borne infections.