Hepatitis C virus in healthy blood donors in Sri Lanka

INTRODUCTION: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the etiological agent for the majority of cases of non-A, non-B hepatitis. As a blood-borne virus, HCV is widely recognized as a major causative agent of post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis. The prevalence of HCV and the distribution of HCV genotypes in Sri Lanka in comparison with the rest of Asia are not well known. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The blood samples collected from healthy blood donors at the National Blood Transfusion Centre of Sri Lanka were screened to determine the prevalence and the genotypes of HCV among blood donors in Sri Lanka. RESULTS: HCV antibodies were found in 53 of 4980 blood donors. However, of the 53 only 8 positive results were confirmed by Reverse Transcription-PCR, which suggests frequent false-positive results or viral clearance. The PCR positive samples were genotyped by DNA sequencing of the Core/E1 regions of HCV genome, and all the HCV viruses belonged to genotype 3, of which 7 were 3a and 1 was 3b. CONCLUSION: HCV is relatively rare among blood donors in Sri Lanka and only genotype 3 was detected in the studied group.