Abstract

The prevalence of infectious diseases is increasing in developing countries, and this may threaten the biological safety of donated blood. The present study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of syphilis among male blood donors in Thi-qar province, Iraq during the period of 2007 to 2011. The study was carried out at the central blood bank of Al-Nasiriyah city, Iraq for a period of five years and screened all male blood donors for syphilis using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results were confirmed by using alternative commercial kits in the Central Health Laboratory in Baghdad. Chi-square (c²) test was used to evaluate the study result.  From 2007 to 2011, a total of 52,723 male blood samples were analyzed. The overall prevalence rate of syphilis infection was (0.36%) with 192 donors showed positive sera for the five years study period with a high number of infections in 2011 year with 111 donor (57.81%). The age of donors ranged between 18 and 71 years old. The age group of 50 to 59 years showed the highest number of infections with 110 donors (57.29%), while the lowest numbers of infections were recorded in 18 to 28 age group with 9 donors (4.69%). Labourers were the most group infected with syphilis with 131 donors (68.22%), followed by policemen and civil servants with 38 (19.80%) and 23 (11.98%), respectively. According to health sections, Nasiriyah section recorded the highest infections with 146 donor (76.04%), followed by Al-Shatra, Suk-Alshuuk and Al-Refaee health sections with 24 (12.50%), 14 (7.30%) and 8 (4.16%), respectively. The present study finding may suggest that syphilis infections continue to be low in Iraq, but need more follow up programs to improve safety of blood transfusion process.

Key words: Blood donors, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, seroprevalence, syphilis, labourers.