Background: Transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) pose a major health risk in Cameroon given the high\nprevalence of such pathogens and increased demands for blood donations in the local communities. This study\naims at establishing the prevalence of commonly encountered TTIs among blood donors and transfusion-related\ncomplications among recipients in an urban center of Cameroon.\nMethods: A total of 477 blood donors and 83 blood recipients were recruited by consecutive sampling at the\nLaquintinie Hospital in Douala (LHD), Cameroon. Serum samples from blood donors were tested by quantitative\nenzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and/or using various Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for presence of\nHepatits B (HBV) viral antigens, and antibodies to human immunodeficiency (HIV-1/2), Hepatits B (HCV) and\nTreponema pallidum. Recipient�s medical records were also analyzed for possible transfusion-associated\ncomplications.\nResults: The male/female sex ratio of the blood donors was 4/1 with a mean age of 30.2 (Sd = 8.3) years. Of all\nblood donors, 64/467 (13.7%) were infected by at least one of the four TTIs. Infected volunteer donors represented\n8.3% while infected family donors comprised 14.3% of the donor population. The prevalence of HCV, HIV, HBV and\nT. pallidum were 1.3%, 1.8%, 3.5%, and 8.1%, respectively. More than half of the blood recipients were female\n(78.3%) and the mean age was 20.6 (SD = 16.1) years. The causes of severe anemia indicative of transfusion in\nrecipients varied with wards (postpartum hemorrhage, caesarean section, uterine or cervical lacerations, abortions,\nurinary tract infections, severe malaria, vaso-occlusive attacks, wounds and gastrointestinal bleeding). The most\nfrequent complications were chills and hematuria, which represented 46.1% of all observed complications. Other\ncomplications such as nausea, vomiting, jaundice, sudden diarrhea, anxiety, tachycardia, or hyperthermia were also\nfound in recipients. Three cases of deaths occurred during the study, including a girl of less than one year.\nConclusion: This study confirms the presence of blood-borne infectious diseases in blood donors at the LHD,\nidentifying T. pallidum as the greatest threat to blood safety in the region, and hematuria as the most common\nimmunological complications in blood recipients.
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