Objective: Our study object was to evaluate the seropositivity of Hepatitis B and C in blood donors at Blood Transfusion Services, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, (PIMS) Islamabad.
Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective study of one year from July 2007 to June 2008. A total of 18,202 blood donors were studied during the study period. Among these, 99.8% were males and 0.2% were females. During the study period, all the blood donors were screened for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti HCV antibodies by 3rd generation ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) system which is a quantitative assay.
Results: The results showed that 3.31% (n = 603) individuals were positive for anti HCV antibodies while 1.92% (n = 351) individuals showed positivity for HBsAg.
Conclusion: The prevalence of HBV and HCV was in intermediate and low rates. This also shows the importance of screening in general population.
Keywords: Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Blood Donors, Blood Transfusion, HBsAg

Introduction

Hepatitis B and C are highly infectious and pose a major public health problem worldwide. The problem in developing countries has increased by the poor economical status of the patients who are unable to afford the costly therapy. About 3% of world’s population or almost 200 million individuals have chronic HCV infection.¹ The global seroprevalence of HCV among blood donors varies from 0.4-19.2%.² Among the viral hepatitis, HCV is especially dangerous in that its morbidity rate is comparatively high.³
HBV infection is a well recognized and major public health problem leading to significantly morbidity and mortality worldwide especially in the developed countries.4 Approximately, 2 billion people in the world have been infected by HBV5 350 million of who are chronic carriers representing approximately 7% of total population.6 The virus causes acute hepatitis of varied severity. ⁷
The transmission of HBV and HCV occurs, mainly, through direct contact with blood, IV injections, blood transfusion and sexual relations, this last, mainly in HBV carriers. The sexual transmission in HCV carriers is controversial. ⁸ Over many years, hepatitis was the main cause of transfusion associated chronic disease, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and dealth. ⁹ The infection rate of Hepatitis B and C is increasing day by day in Pakistan. The discovery of these serious hazards has brought a dramatic change in
the behavior of patients and physicians about safe transfusion of blood. ¹⁰
Various epidemiological studies have been conducted in the past that provide data about the seroprevalence of Hepatitis B and C viruses in different parts of the world. There are also few studies that have been conducted in different regions of Pakistan. In general, blood donors are members of a low risk behavior group. This particular study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of Hepatitis B and C in healthy blood donors.

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