Prevalence of hepatitis B & C infections in prospective blood donors deferred due to history of jaundice

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: As per national guidelines, prospective blood donors with a history of jaundice of unknown cause are deferred permanently to prevent the transmission of hepatitis B and C. The validity of this guideline was tested by comparing prevalence rates of hepatitis B and C in prospective blood donors deferred due to a history of jaundice, with that of donors who were found fit. METHODS: Blood samples of 212 consecutive donors (male, n=203) deferred due to a history of jaundice were studied for hepatitis B and C by rapid test kits as well as by chemiluminescence (n=115) or ELISA (n=97). Consecutive healthy donors (n=549; male, n=518) were also studied by ELISA (n=266) or chemiluminescence (n=283). RESULTS: The cumulative prevalence detected by rapid test kit and ELISA/chemiluminescence tests of hepatitis B (n=10) and C (n=2) among donors deferred due to a history of jaundice (n=212) was 5.7 per cent [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.9, 9.9]. The prevalence of reactive results among healthy donors (n=549) by ELISA/chemiluminescence tests was 3.3 per cent (95% CI: 1.9, 5.2), which included hepatitis B (n=15) and hepatitis C (n=3) cases. Compared to healthy donors, the odds of seropositivity among jaundice-deferred donors was 1.7 (95% CI: 0.8, 3.6), P=0.15. For rapid test-negative deferred donors, the odds of seropositivity by ELISA/chemiluminescence declined to 0.4 (0.1, 1.5), P=0.19. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rates of hepatitis B and C in prospective blood donors deferred due to a history of jaundice of unknown aetiology did not differ significantly from that in healthy donors. The current practice of permanently deferring such donors depletes valuable donor pool. A strategy of rejecting only those donors who are found reactive on pre-donation testing by rapid test needs further validation.