Prevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen sero-positivity and Hepatitis C virus among voluntary blood donors in Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba, Nigeria

Abstract

Hepatitis  B  and  C  viruses  are  among  the common infectious  diseases  of the  world and  constitute  a major  global  health  burden.  Consequent  upon  their  mode  of  transmission,  thorough  screening  of  blood  has  become  absolutely  necessary, making quick provision of safe blood rather difficult. This study aims at determining the sero-prevalence  of hepatitis B and C viruses among voluntary blood donors in our centre. This was a hospital-based cross sectional  study and was carried out at the blood bank of the teaching hospital, Aba, from June 2013 and December 2014. Five  hundred  and  thirty  consecutively  recruited  voluntary  blood  donors  were  screened  for  hepatitis  B  and hepatitis  C  virus  infections.  Hepatitis  B  virus  infection  was  screened  using  hepatitis  B  surface  antigen  by  ELISA, while  hepatitis  C  virus  infection  was  screened  using  anti-HCV  antibodies  by  ELISA.  The  biodata  of  the  donors  were  obtained. The prevalence of hepatitis infection among the blood donors was 51 (9.6%). HBsAg and ant-HCV were  reactive in 7.26% and 1.5% of the study population respectively while co-infection was recorded in 0.74% of the  donors.  In  conclusion,  this  study  confirmed  the  presence  of  viral  hepatitides  among  voluntary  blood  donors  and these infections can be transmitted through blood in Aba, Nigeria.

Key words: Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, blood donors, Aba, Nigeria.