ArticleThe Pan African medical journal2018
Hidden dangers-prevalence of blood borne pathogens, hepatitis B, C, HIV and syphilis, among blood donors in Sierra Leone in 2016: opportunities for improvement: a retrospective, cross-sectional study.
Article in The Pan African medical journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Sierra Leone, 1997-2022: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2023Pooled it
- Prevalence of viral hepatitis B in Ghana between 2015 and 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- [Evaluation of the Efficacy and Tolerance of Tranexamic Acid Combined with InoserpMedecine tropicale et sante internationale · 2026Trial
- Barriers to compliance with hepatitis B vaccination: sociocultural and socioeconomic perspectives of pregnant women in the Bono East Region of Ghana.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Sero-prevalence of syphilis infection among people living with HIV in Sierra Leone: a cross-sectional nationwide hospital-based study.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Prevalence ofThe Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2022Article
- Transfusion Transmissible Infections in Blood Donors in the Province of Bié, Angola, during a 15-Year Follow-Up, Imply the Need for Pathogen Reduction Technologies.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Prevalence of viral hepatitis B and C in Sierra Leone-current knowledge and knowledge gaps: a narrative review.Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · 2021Review
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Syphilis Among Blood Donors at Western Oromia, Ethiopia.Journal of blood medicine · 2021Article
- Screening and linkage to care for medical students with hepatitis B virus infection in Sierra Leone.Heliyon · 2020Article
- Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus Among Blood Donors in Nekemte Blood Bank, Western Oromia, Ethiopia: Retrospective 5 Years Study.Journal of blood medicine · 2020Article
- Predictive value of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and Toll-like receptor-9 regarding the treatment efficacy of interferon-α in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2019Article
- Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Infections in HIV-Infected Patients in Sierra Leone.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionTransmissible blood-borne infections are a serious threat to blood transfusion safety in West African countries; and yet blood remains a key therapeutic product in the clinical management of patients. Sierra Leone screens blood donors for blood-borne infections but has not implemented prevention of mother-to-child transmission for hepatitis B. This study aimed to describe the overall prevalence of hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis among blood donors in Sierra Leone in 2016 and to compare the differences between volunteer versus family replacement donors, as well as urban versus rural donors.
methodsRetrospective, cross-sectional study from January-December 2016 in five blood bank laboratories across the country. Routinely-collected programme data were analyzed; blood donors were tested with rapid diagnostic tests-HBsAg for HBV, anti-HCV antibody for HCV, antibodies HIV1&2 for HIV and TPHA for syphilis.
resultsThere were 16807 blood samples analysed, with 80% from males; 2285 (13.6%) tested positive for at least one of the four pathogens. Overall prevalence was: 9.7% hepatitis B; 1.0% hepatitis C; 2.8% HIV; 0.8% syphilis. Prevalence was higher among samples from rural blood banks, the difference most marked for hepatitis C. The proportion of voluntary donors was 12%. Family replacement donors had a higher prevalence of hepatitis B, C and HIV than volunteers.
conclusionA high prevalence of blood-borne pathogens, particularly hepatitis B, was revealed in Sierra Leone blood donors. The study suggests the country should implement the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B and push to recruit more volunteer, non-remunerated blood donors.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.