Moslem Taheri Soodejani
HIV/STI Surveillance Research Center, and WHO Collaborating Center for HIV Surveillance, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Title: Impact of New Screening Procedure for detection of Transfusion Transmitted Infections in Donated Bloods in Iran
Biography
Biography: Moslem Taheri Soodejani
Abstract
The screening method used in Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) to screen donated blood has been improved over time base on new technologies of screening methods. For example, prior to 2010, screening tests were carried out using portable ELAISA testing kits which lacked the necessary accuracy due to human error. However, between years 2009 and 2010, the method shifted from the use of manual testing kits to the use of the automation method. This intervention created a new screening procedure which removed the human error and increased the accuracy in reporting confirmed Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTIs) result tests, and hence, led to much more accurate and reliable test results.
In order to assess the effects of upgrading the mentioned screening methods, it is needed to develop a plan to analyze the situation of screening results, before and after this switching. The effectiveness of switching the methods of TTIs screening system has been analyzed by Interrupted Time Series (ITS) model. This study was conducted to show the effect of the new screening method on identifying new cases of TTIs. This is the first report of the rate of TTIs in national level among Iranian donated bloods.
The prevalence of TTIs before the intervention (the new screening method) showed a decreasing trend between the years 2003 to 2009. After the introduction of the intervention (the new screening method), the new trend for infection prevalence was still decreasing but showed a constant change compared to the pre-intervention trend. This constant changed compared to the previous year’s results in identification of 61.4, 4.5 and 0.25 more cases of HBV, HCV and HIV compared to the expected pre-intervention values which is statistically significant (P<0.001). he presented study indicates an overall low infection rate and provides evidences for the effectiveness of modern safety measures in improving the level of blood safety in Iran.