Seropositivity of blood samples of 31,355 cornea donors from a tertiary care network of eye banks

• Published in: International ophthalmology 2021-05, Vol.41 (5), p.1743-1751
• Main Authors: Roy, Aravind, Das, Sujata, Fernandes, Merle, Mohamed, Ashik, Chaurasia, Sunita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antigens; Blood; Cardiolipin; Cornea; Diphosphatidylglycerol; Hepatitis; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B surface antigen; Hepatitis C; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Ophthalmology; Original Paper; Rapid plasma reagin test; Reagin; Sexually transmitted diseases; STD; Syphilis; Viruses
• ISSN: 0165-5701; 1573-2630
• DOI: 10.1007/s10792-021-01733-0

Purpose To evaluate the seropositivity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and syphilis from blood samples of cornea donors and assess correlation between seropositivity for HIV and syphilis. Methods Retrospective analysis of blood samples of 31,355 cornea donors for HIV, HBV, HCV, and syphilis was performed. Postmortem blood samples were analyzed by a rapid screening test for anti-HIV envelope antibodies against HIV 1 and 2, HBV surface antigen, antibody to HCV and anti-cardiolipin antibodies for syphilis by rapid plasma reagin test. Results The overall seropositivity rate was 4.28% (1343/31,355 donors). All positive donors were reactive for a single serological test. The seropositivity rate for HIV was 0.93% (95% CI 0.83–1.04%), for HBsAg was 1.56% (95% CI 1.43–1.7%), for HCV was 1.19% (95% CI 1.08–1.33%) and for syphilis was 0.59% (95% CI 0.52–0.69%). The trends in seropositivity rates showed a decline for three viral markers: HIV (2010, 1.17% to 2018, 0.72%, p  = 0.02), HBsAg (2010, 1.98% to 2018, 1.05%, p  = 0.0006) and HCV (2010, 1.32% to 2018, 0.43%, p