Prevalence of HCV and HIV/HCV co-infection among volunteer blood donors and VCT clients

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of HCV infection and HCV/HIV co-infection among voluntary blood donors at the National Blood Transfusion Centre and clients at the Kenyatta National Hospital HIV-Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Centre.

Design: A prospective cross-sectional descriptive study.

Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital, a tertiary referral and teaching hospital and the National Blood Transfusion Services Centre, Nairobi.

Subjects: Volunteer blood donors and VCT attendants.

Results: The prevalence of HCV/HIV co-infection among 6154 blood donors in the NBTSC was very low, at 0.02. The HIV prevalence among the 353 KNH HIV-VCT clients was 9.3%, none of the clients tested positive for HCV. The incidence of risk factors in the persons with HCV and/or HIV infection(s) was low.

Conclusion: The prevalence of HCV infection among pre-screened volunteer blood donors was low. However the current practice of screening all donated blood for HCV remains indispensable to prevent its transmission to blood recipients.

East African Medical Journal Vol.82(4) 2005: 166-169