Seroprevalence and epidemiological profile of blood donors at the Lubumbashi University Clinics, Democratic Republic of Congo

Introduction: Ensuring a good haemoviglance remains a major public health problem in low income countries. Transfusion-transmissible infectious agents such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and syphilis must be subject to regular and permanent epidemiological surveillance in order to reduce the risk of infections. This study aims to determine the epidemiological and serological profile of blood donors at the Lubumbashi University Clinics. Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among blood donors during the 6 month period from January to June 2015 at the Lubumbashi University Clinics. The parameters analyzed included sex, age, donors category and the results of infectious markers tested. For the screening, only the rapid tests were used (Determine HIV 1 and 2, Determine HBsAg, HCV One Step and RPR). Statistical analysis was performed using Epi Info 7, and chi-square test or fisher exact test (when recommended) was used to find a relationship between epidemiological parameters and seropositivity to tested antigens. The significance level was set at p <0.05. Results: A total of 599 blood donors were collected, 498 males (83,14%) and 101 females (16,86%); sex ratio M/F was 4,93. The majority of the donors were aged between 20-29 years (45,10%) and 30-39 years (34,70%); the average age was 31,59 8,2 years. Regarding the category of donors, donor families were the majority (62,27%) followed by volunteer donors (3005%); paying donors were 7,68%. Seroprevalence rate was 8,01% in HBV followed by 2,67% and 2,67% in HIV and HCV respectively and 0,33% in syphilis. No epidemiological parameter analyzed was significantly associated with seropositivity to tested antigens (p<0.05). Conclusion: A high prevalence of HBsAg was found in our series. This allowed us to argue that an epidemiological surveillance system should be strengthened within the national blood program in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a second serological test should be suggested to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections.