HIV prevalence among blood donors in University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH): A ten year experience

Abstract

The trend of HIV seropositivity among blood donors at the UMTH is reported in this study for a ten-year period (1995-2004). Of an accumulative total of 15,898 blood donors screened, 634 (4.0%) had positive serologic tests for HIV infection. Male donors screened were 15,467, while females were 589. Of these, 3.8 and 10.4%, respectively tested HIV sero-positives. The percentage positivity among blood donors shows that donors aged 26-30 were 4.3% followed by 31-35 years age bracket (4.2%) while the least (3.9%) were in the age range 36-40. Findings in this study suggest that donors in the age bracket (16-35 years) seem to have a more consistent higher susceptibility to HIV infection over the years than those in the older age bracket of 36 and above. However, comparatively lower HIV prevalence in the younger age group of 16-20 could be an indication of a decline in the level of new infection, hence, heralds an encouraging trend. There is need for health managers and policy makers to introduce intervention measures that will drastically force down the epidemic in this locality. Moreso, as the majority of blood donors who provide blood are recruited from the sexually active age bracket during routine and emergency periods for life saving purposes. © 2010 Academic Journals Inc.