Viral hepatitides in voluntary blood donors in Yola, Nigeria

The viral hepatitides: hepatitis B and C virus infections are known to occur in the general population, and due to their mode of transmission through blood and blood products, it has made the provision of safe blood difficult, and the screening of blood absolutely necessary. There is no data on the seroprevalence of these infections in our centre. We therefore determined the seroprevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infection among voluntary blood donors in Yola, Nigeria. The study was a hospital-based cross sectional study, and was carried out at the blood bank of Federal Medical Centre, Yola, Nigeria from January, 2007 to December, 2008. Five hundred and ninety five consecutively recruited voluntary blood donors were screened for hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections. Hepatitis B virus infection was screened for using hepatitis B surface antigen by ELISA while hepatitis C virus infection was screened for using anti-HCV antibodies by ELISA. The biodata of the patients were obtained. Written informed consent was obtained from each patient. Of all the patients screened, 571 donors (96%) were males while 24 (4%) were females. The mean age was 31.3+/- 7.9 years. Only the male donors had viral hepatitides. 14 donors each (2.4%) were positive for HBsAg and anti- HCV. It is concluded that the seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infection is low among voluntary blood donors in Yola, Nigeria.