A Survey of prevalence of serum antibodies to human immunodeficiency deficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among blood donors

BACKGROUND: It is a well known fact that HIV, HBV and HCV are global infectious pathogens contributing to mortality and morbidity in all ages thereby making them infections of grievous public health importance. As donor's potend a possible risk of transfusing these infections of global importance, it makes it imperative for the screening of blood and blood products for these pathogens. AIM: This study aims at determining the seroprevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV among intending blood donors. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A retrospective data analysis for seroprevalence of antibodies to HIV, HBV and HCV was carried out between the 2(nd) of January and 15(th) of June 2010 among intending blood donors aged 18-45 and the association of these infections with age group and blood group were analyzed. Sterile venous anticoagulated blood was collected from each of the donors and analyzed for HIV, HBV and HCV using highly sensitive and specific kits. All the positive samples for HIV- 1/2 were sent for reconfirmation using polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Of the 427 samples analyzed, 203 were positive for HIV, 200 for HBV and 24 for HCV, representing a prevalence of 47.54%, 46.83% and 5.71% respectively among intending blood donors. Among them, blood group O “positive” was the most common blood group with 59.25% followed by blood group B “positive”, A “positive” and O “negative” respectively (p<0.001). The analysis of relationship showed a tendency of high association of these infections in subjects with O “positive” blood group. CONCLUSION: This study emphasizes the need for proper screening of blood donors for HIV, HBV and HCV.