Key findings
- Over the ten-year period 2013–2022, there were over 14 million blood donations in Australia with an average of 1.4 million donations per year.
- In 2022, a total of 178 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 potentially infectious 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 2022, 87.6% were positive for either HBV or HCV.
- Overall HIV was the least common TTI among all donors in 2022, with just three donors testing positive.
- Although representing only 21.8% of the donor population, first time blood donors contributed to 85% of TTIs in Australia in 2022. This proportion has fluctuated since 2013 (67%–85%).
- No transfusion transmitted HBV, HCV, HIV, HTLV or syphilis infections were reported in Australia in 2022.
- Consistent with previous years, in 2022, the prevalence of TTIs was substantially lower among first time blood donors (6 to 64 times) compared with national prevalence estimates for 2021/2022.
