Prevalence Of Hepatitis B And C Virus Amongst Blood Donors And Abnormal Alt Activities In Blood Donors In Nigeria

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate incidences of both Hepatitis B and C Virus and serum activity of alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) amongst professional blood donors. For this study, 100 professional blood donors participated. Using blood samples collected from each donor, screening for HBV and HCV were performed by qualitative detection of serum anti-HBV and anti-HCV while the serum activity of ALT was also determined in 56 of the participants. 7% of the participating blood donors were sero-positive for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg), 3% for HCV and 2% had co-morbidity for both HBV and HCV. In addition, amongst the participants that had ALT activity > 24.0 iu/l, 5(27.7%) were HBV sero-positive out of which 2(11.1%) had co-morbidity for HBV and HCV infections. The prevalent rates of HBV and HCV amongst professional blood donors call for concern. Transfusion of blood or blood products in this area is still largely a source of transmission of these viruses. The possible use of raised ALT activities in areas where HCV screening is not available to disqualify donors from donating blood still lacks the ability to rule out 1% of donors with HCV. The present study thus concludes that HBV and HCV co-morbidity is a real problem amongst blood donors in Nigeria and may limit availability of Blood for transfusion. Implications of these bindings are discussed.

Keywords: hepatitis B and C, ALT, Blood, donors.

Journal of Biomedical Investigation Vol. 4 (2) 2006 pp. 32-36