Seropositivity of hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV in chronically transfused β-thalassaemia major patients.

Thalassaemia is prevalent in Pakistan, which is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disorder.1 Its management depends on regular blood transfusions; which in turn pose the threat of TTIs. Among many infections, hepatitis B, C and HIV are the most commonly reported TTIs in these patients. The declining trend of hepatitis B has rendered hepatitis C virus infection the most common post-transfusion infection and important cause of end-stage liver disease in many countries. These infections and iron overload have been the downside of regular blood transfusions in TM patients despite the overall improvement in survival. Studies in Pakistan showed seroprevalence of HBsAg (7.8% weighted average, range 5.0 - 8.4%) and HCVAb (47.2% weighted average, range 25 - 60%) in multitransfused population of patients with thalassaemia or haemophilia.2,3 A regional study suggested that the prevalence of TTIs is more in children over age 20 years indicating improvement in blood screening practices during the last decade.4 Repeatedly transfused patients continue to get exposed to infectious blood products from donors in window period or with low levels of viraemia. There are very few recent local studies on the problem, so this study provides recent data to evaluate the trend on the prevalence of three common TTIs in β-thalassaemia patients and healthy donor populations.