Abstract
BackgroundInfection by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cause serious mortality, morbidity and financial burden and are thus a major global health problem. The study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Hepatitis B and C infections and co-infections among blood donors in a rural community of Ghana.This was a retrospective study conducted at the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital in the Asanti Akim North District of Ghana to investigate the prevalence of these infections over a three year period among 2773 blood donors. Males constituted a larger proportion of the study population (92.2%). Majority of the study population (43.9%) were within 26-35 age group. The disease prevalence was calculated at a 95% confidence interval.FindingsThe prevalence of Hepatitis B viral (HBV) infection was highest in females- 21.4% (95% CI: 11.6-34.4) in 2006 than males in the same year- 13.2% (95% CI: 10.8-15.9). Hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection was highest among males- 11.6% (95% CI: 9.5-13.8) in 2007. HBV and HCV co-infection was higher in males- 2.6% (95% CI: 1.6-3.8) than females- 1.3% (95% CI: 0-7.0) in 2007. The overall prevalence of HBV and HCV was 13.8% (95% CI: 11.4- 16.4) and 9.4% (95% CI: 7.4-11.6) respectively in 2006. The rate of co-infection of HBV and HCV however increased from 1.6% (95% CI: 0.8-2.7) in 2006 to 2.2% (95% CI: 1.3-3.2) in 2008 in males and from 0% (95% CI: 0-6.4) in 2006 to 1.2% (95% CI: 0-6.5) in 2008 in females.ConclusionThe single infections of HBV and HCV reduced but co-infection of these transfusion transmitted infections increased. Measures such as more sensitive techniques for effective diagnosis and sanitary education to enlighten the population must be implemented.
Highlights
Hepatitis B is one of most common infectious diseases of the world infecting two billion people including an estimated 400 million chronically infected cases [1]
Study site The Agogo Presbyterian Hospital is located in the Asanti Akim North District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana, West Africa; and is the principal hospital of the district
The majority of the study population- 1217 (43.9%) - were within the 26-35 age group
Summary
Hepatitis B is one of most common infectious diseases of the world infecting two billion people including an estimated 400 million chronically infected cases [1]. Hepatitis C virus infection is another common chronic blood borne infection with an estimated 3.9 million persons infected with the virus and have a high rate of development of liver cirrhosis. Information on HBV and HCV seroprevalence in Ghana are old, scanty or limited to only urban blood donors. The study aim was to determine the prevalence of HBV and HCV in blood donors in a rural area over a three year period (2006-2008). The study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Hepatitis B and C infections and co-infections among blood donors in a rural community of Ghana. The disease prevalence was calculated at a 95% confidence interval
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