Detection of asymptomatic Leishmania donovani in healthy voluntary blood donors.

Objective: To check incidence of Asymptomatic Leishmania donovani reporting to Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion Rawalpindi.

Material And Methods: Two thousand (n = 2000) consecutive healthy voluntary blood donors were tested for 18 s rRNA by Real time Polymerase chain reaction. One thousand (n = 1000) subject's permanent resident of Azad Kashmir along with a thousand (n = 1000) healthy voluntary blood donors from rest of Pakistan were included. The study was carried out over a period of three months Jun - Aug 2020.

Results: Total of 2000 blood donors were enrolled in the study, all were males with age ranging from 16 to 60 years. Stratification based on residence, 1000 (50 %) resided in the Azad kashmir, 349 (17.45 %) were from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, 541 (27.05 %) from Punjab mainly residing in Lahore and Multan, 110 (5.5 %) were from other cities of Pakistan. Grouping on the basis of age, 55.25 % (n = 1105) of the donors were 16-25 years old, 19.45 % (n = 389) were in age range of 26-40 years old, 15.55 % (n = 311) were 41-50 years old and 9.75 % (n = 195) 51-60 years old. No donor was diagnosed as an asymptomatic carrier.

Conclusion: Screening of blood donors for Leishmania donovani is not recommended.