Key findings
- Over the ten-year period 2011–2020, there were over 13 million blood donations in Australia with an average of 1.3 million donations per year.
- In 2020, a total of 207 blood donors were detected as positive for a TTI for which testing is in place, namely, hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV), or active syphilis.
- Consistent with the long term pattern, the most common TTI was HBV, followed by HCV. Of all the donations positive for a TTI in 2020, 83.6% were positive for either HBV or HCV.
- Overall HTLV was the least common infection among all donors in 2020, with just four donors testing positive.
- Although representing only 21.4% of the donor population, first time blood donors contributed to 77% of TTIs in Australia in 2020. This proportion has remained relatively stable since 2011 (77%–80%).
- No transfusion transmitted HBV, HCV, HIV, HTLV or syphilis infections were reported in Australia in 2020.
- Consistent with previous years, in 2020, the prevalence of TTIs was substantially lower among first time blood donors (11 to 62 times) compared with national prevalence estimates for 2019.
