Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B infection among apparently clinically healthy blood donors in Northern mid-Karnataka

Abstract

Aim: To determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B infection among healthy blood donors in the blood banks of Gadag. Materials and Methods: The study included blood donors over a period of 3 years from August 2015 to July 2018 in two blood banks of Gadag i.e. Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) blood bank and Indian Medical Association (IMA) blood bank. A total of 20,144 donors were included in the study. It included both replacement donors and voluntary donors. Donors were screened using donor questionnaire and general physical examination was done for medical and surgical illness. Eligible blood donors donated blood and their blood samples were subjected to a test that detected the presence of HBsAg antigen by using commercially available Qualisa 3rd generation ELISA kit. Result: In the present study, out of 20,144 donors, 19,676 (97.67%) were males and 468 (2.33%) were females. Total number of seropositive cases was 388. The overall seroprevalence was 1.93%. Out of 388 seropositive cases, 385 cases were males and 3 were females. Seroprevalence was highest among males accounting for 1.96% and that among females was 0.64%. The prevalence of seropositive cases among voluntary donors was 0.77% and among replacement donors was 7.19%. Conclusion: Seroprevalence of hepatitis B in the region of Gadag is 1.93%. Keywords: Seroprevalence, Voluntary donors, Replacement donors.