title: Blood donor recruitment strategies and their impact on blood safety in Egypt.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Because of the high incidence of HCV, blood safety presents a serious challenge in Egypt. Given the constrained economy which limits the implementation of nucleic acid amplification technology, proper recruitment of blood donors becomes of paramount importance. To evaluate the effectiveness of blood donor recruitment strategies, the seroprevalence of positive infectious markers among blood donors was studied.
  
  
  METHODS
  Donors' records covering the period from 2006-2012 were reviewed. Blood donations were screened for HCV antibodies, HBs antigen (HBsAg), HIV-1 and 2 and syphilis antibodies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 308,762 donors, 63.4% were voluntary donors (VD). VD of 2011-2012 were significantly younger than family replacement donors (RD) .The overall prevalences of HCV antibodies, HBsAg, HIV and syphilis antibodies were 4.3%, 1.22%, 0.07%, and 0.13%, respectively. All tested markers (except HIV) were significantly higher among RD, when compared to VD (P<0.0001). A consistent steady trend for decrease in HCV seropositivity was observed in RD and VD from 8.9% and 4.2% to 3.8% and 1.5%, respectively. A trend for decrease in HBsAg was demonstrated in VD from 1.2% to 0.53%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decreasing trends in HCV antibody and HBs antigen is promising and may reflect the improved donor selection criteria.
authors: Departments and Institutions, Cairo University Blood Bank, Clinical Pathology Department, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt(1). Electronic address: eimanhussein@ymail.com.
authors: Eiman
authors: E
authors: Hussein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001782:Blood Donors; D058731:Blood Safety; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood*; D015497:HIV-1; D015498:HIV-2; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013587:Syphilis / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D015483:HIV Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens
keywords: Family donors; HBV; HCV; HIV; Syphilis; Voluntary donors