Context: A major risk of blood transfusion is transmission of infectious diseases, few of which have clinical importance. Many of these infectious agents may cause death or prolonged illness. Therefore it is necessary to understand the organisms which could be transmitted through transfusion of blood and its components, and means by which this could be prevented. Aims: Screening of blood for transfusion transmitted infections like HIV 1 & 2, Hepatitis B & C, Syphilis and Malaria to ensure safe blood transfusion. Methods and Material: The present retrospective study was carried out at the regional blood bank of a tertiary care hospital attached to a government medical college. Data over a period of 5 years (January 2013 to December 2017) was collected from the records of the blood bank. Statistical analysis used: After data collection, data entry was done in MS Excel. Data was analyzed with the help of frequency and percentage table. The association among various study parameters was assessed with the help of Chi-square test. p value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The overall prevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and Syphilis were 0.095%, 0.563%, 0.007% and 0.001% respectively among total 66,000 blood units collected. All donors were seronegative for Malaria. Conclusions: There is a need for careful selection of voluntary blood donors and screening procedures can improve the blood safety. NAT (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test) should be included for all important viral infections with a view to bring down the window period of these infections and cases with low viremia.

Keywords: Blood Donors; Seroprevalence; Transfusion Transmitted Infections.