Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) can be considered a social problem that generates
financial cost to the health service and the affected person, having no racial or
cultural borders and is considered by the World Health Organization a priority among
tropical diseases. The VLis a condition of unfitness for blood donation, as
recommended by the Ministry of Health, thus,it is important to analyze the disease by
a marker in the screening laboratory blood donation, in view of the possible risk of be
overlooked by asymptomatic conditions or by lack of laboratory examination,
especially in areas with high incidence. The aimof this study was to determine the
prevalence of Leishmania infantum infection fromvoluntaryblood donorsfrom
Araguaína Regional Blood Center and to identify the risk factors to which blood
donors are exposed. Serum of 400 blood donors were analyzed by the direct
agglutination test (DAT) and blood samples from seropositive individuals were
submitted to PCR. For risk factor research, a structured questionnaire was performed
with each donor. In DAT, thirty donors (7.5%) showed seropositivity at 1:20, 6 (1.5%)
titration to 1:80 titration and 2 (0.5%) titration to 1:160 titration. No donor has been
PCR positive. Havinga positive dog for VL in the residence or neighborhood was
reported by 18.5% of the donors, and a report of a sick man by calazarin the
residence or neighborhood was observed in 5.6% of the donors. The results revealed
that blood donors from endemic VL regions are exposed and have individual and
socioenvironmental conditions that are considered risk factors for visceral
leishmaniasis and represent a warning for the importance of investigating this
infection in blood donors considering the possible risks of transmission of VL,
emphasizing thar public health serviceneed toexpandthe blockade of infection and
reduce the risk of transmission by other possible means, such as blood.
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