SEROPREVALENCE OF HUMAN PARVOVIRUS B19 IgM AND IgG AMONG ASYMTOMATIC DONORS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Abstract

Human parvovirus B19 is one of the emerging transfusion transmitted infections. Infection with B19 is widespread. There are limited data concerning Nigerian donors with B19 in spite of implications of such a dearth of data on health policy formation. The aim of the present study was to establish the seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 IgG and IgM antibodies among healthy blood donors in Lagos, Nigeria. Blood samples were collected between October-December 2012 from 170 asymptomatic healthy donors between ages of 20-54 years and screened for IgG and IgM antibodies using recombinant enzyme linked immunorsorbent assay kits (r-biopharm Diagnostics, Darmstadt, Germany). Net prevalence of IgM and IgG antibodies to human parvovirus B19 in this study was 65(37.6%) and 106(61.3%) respectively. A total of 39(22.9%) out of 173 blood donors screened in this research had anti- B19 antibodies (dual positivity) in their sera. Age had no statistically significant effect on anti-B19 seroprevalence among donors screened. The prevalence of parvovirus B19 among healthy donors in our study is high, and may pose adverse transfusion risk among the recipients of blood and blood products who have no detectable antibodies to parvovirus B19. This work therefore recommends routine screening for parvovirus B19 IgM antibody in blood meant for transfusion and accompanying clinical management of positive cases should be made compulsory for all donors.