Bushra Moiz, Salman Naseem Adil, Mohammad Khurshid.
Seroprevalence of syphilis in healthy non commercial blood donors in Karachi.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;16(5):385-6.

The purpose of this communication is to describe the seroprevalence of syphilis in healthy blood donors of our country. The blood bank records of seven years from 1998 to 2004 at The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, were analyzed. All donors were healthy adults who donated blood either voluntarily or as replacement for their relative patients. No commercial donors were entertained. As per institutional policy, each donation was screened for HIV, Hepatitis B and C as well as syphilis. Serum was separated and tested through VDRL carbon antigen test (Plasmetic Laboratory Products limited, UK) A reactive test is indicated by flocculation that is read macroscopically while a negative result would be absence of such reaction. The results were noted after comparing them with positive and negative controls that were provided with the kit. All the positive tests were repeated. Any unit found positive was discarded as per standard safety procedures. Of the 114122 samples tested during the mentioned period, 113870 were negative while 252 donors were positive for syphilis antibodies making an overall prevalence of 0.22%. All of these subjects were exclusively male with the age distribution from 18 to 73 years (mean of 30.4). The rate of seropositivity does not seem to be changing much during the past several years with the annual rate of less than 1%. It is recommmended that every blood donor should be screened for syphilis on routine basis.

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