Frequency of HIV Infection in Thalassemic Patients Under Blood Transfusion in Shahid Fahmideh Hospital in Kermanshah (2004)

Introduction: One of  the most common ways of HIV transmission is from blood products. HIV infection causes immuno-deficiency in human, and consequently increases the rate of mortality and morbidity. Thalassemic patients, because of severe anemia, need  blood transfusion. Therefore the rate of contamination with HIV increases. The aim of this study is to invesitigate the frequency of HIV infection in thalassemic patients.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was performed upon 185 major thalassemic patients who underwent blood transfusion in Kermanshah Shahid Fahmideh Hospital. The patients’ serum samples were tested for HIV by Elisa method. A questionnaire consisting of certain information such as age, sex and time of the first blood transfusion was conducted and completed by every patient. Finally the results were evaluated by descriptive statistics.

Results: In  this study, from 185 patients,43.2% were females and 56.8% were males.

The patients' mean age was 12.6±3 year. 32 patients underwent transfusion before 1990 and 152 patiens after 1990.The frequency of HIV-Ab was Zero(0).

Conclusion : Comparing the obtained results with those of other studies we can say that the key factor which brought us to these results is low prevalence of HIV in Blood Donors.Of course the role of Blood Transfusion Organization in screening should not be ignored.