Screening for Syphilis Among Blood Donors in Nigeria: Application of General Quality Principles
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Date
2019-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Society for Blood Transfusion
Abstract
Background: Safety of blood for transfusion is a global concern.
WHO and Africa Society for Blood Transfusion require a minimum
of antibodies to Treponema pallidum or VDRL or RPR test
on all donated blood units before transfusion. Application of general
quality principle in screening for Transfusion Transmissible
Infections, syphilis inclusive is a major determinant of safety of
blood transfusion.
Methods: Forty-eight health care facilities were recruited for the
study between January and June 2018. A self-administered structured
questionnaire, physical interactions and telephone calls were
employed to collect all relevant data on quality measures, types of
blood donors, total number of blood units screened and reactivity
to syphilis screening tests.
Results: Venereal Disease Research Laboratory method was used
to screen all donations for syphilis at 81.3% of the facilities
screened. Twenty seven of the 39 facilities that screened for syphilis
validated their test kits, 24 facilities had written SOPs and quality
control system while 33 and 6 facilities procured syphilis
screening reagents through Hospital Managements and Departments.
A total of 98 478 blood units were collected and screened
for syphilis. Of the 831 samples found reactive, 405, 408 and 18
were obtained from tertiary, secondary and private hospitals and
384, 381 and 66 of the samples were from family replacement,
paid and voluntary non-remunerated blood donors respectively.
Conclusion: Majority of the facilities studied screened for syphilis
using non-specific method and most employed general quality principles that conform to National and Africa Society for Blood
Transfusion guidelines. Syphilis sero-prevalence of 0.84% was
recorded in this study.
Description
Keywords
Screening, Syphilis, Blood Donors
Citation
10. Shittu, A.O., Fadeyi, A., Olawumi, H.O., Babatunde, A.S., Omokanye, K.O., Ogunfemi, M.K. (2019). Screening for Syphilis Among Blood Donors in Nigeria: Application of General Quality Principles. Africa Sanguine, 21(2):5-9.