title: Family/friend donors are not true voluntary donors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Family/replacement donors still provide more than 45% of the blood collected in India. National AIDS Control Organization passed the guideline that family/friend donors should be considered as voluntary donors by the blood banks in India.
  
  
  METHODS
  We did a prospective analysis of Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTI's) on our family donors for the years 2009 and 2010 to compare the results and evaluate if family donors are as safe as voluntary donors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis B surface antigen, Hepatitis C Virus, and Anti-Treponema Palladium antibody was much higher in family donors in comparison to voluntary donors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family donors cannot be included amongst voluntary-non-remunerated blood donors as they have a higher rate of TTIs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Transfusion Medicine, Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Rohit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Gajendra
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gupta