Introduction: Although the transfusion of blood products is a common therapy, it carries risk of transmission of infections, especially hepatitus B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Objective: As part of the blood safety initiative, the Pan American Health Organization supported studies to estimate the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B virus infection in Colombia.
Materials and methods: Between February and September 2003, a cross sectional study examined 500 multiply-transfused patients at four hospital centers in the cities of Bogota and Medellin. The serum samples were analyzed by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using commercial kits.
Results: The seroprevalence of HIV infection was 1.8% (CI 95% 0.5-3.1). The seroprevalence of HBV infection was 18.6% (CI 95% 15.1-22.1). Six risk factors were associated with HIV and HBV infection: (1) receiving more than 48 units of blood or blood components, (2) diagnosis of hemophilia, (3) receiving transfusions for more than one year, (4) receiving whole blood, (5) coinfection with hepatitis C virus and (6) receiving transfusions before 1993.
Conclusions: This is the first epidemiological study with a significant sample size performed in multiply-transfused patients in Colombia. The principal finding was the high prevalence of HBV and HIV infection in patients with diagnosis of hemophilia compared with the other five groups of multiply-transfused patients.