Prevalence trend of HBV and HCV among blood donors donating blood to Gulu Regional Blood Bank in Gulu District

Abstract

Blood transfusion is a life-saving therapy but carries the risk of transmission of infections. Screening for hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus is mandatory since they are greatest threats to safety of blood to recipients and the leading cause of deaths and cirrhosis and other abnormalities. The burden of hepatitis B infection is highest in the WHO Western Pacific Region and the WHO African Region, where 116 million and 81 million people, respectively, are chronically infected. Sixty million people are infected in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, 18 million in the WHO South-East Asia Region, 14 million in the WHO European Region and 5 million in the WHO Region of the Americas. Globally, an estimated 58 million people have chronic hepatitis C virus infection, with about 1.5 million new infections occurring per year. WHO estimated that in 2019, approximately 290 000 people died from hepatitis C, mostly from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer). A retrospective analysis of blood donors donating to Gulu regional blood bank between the period of January 2020 and 2021 was conducted to analyze for seropositive of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus among blood donor of age 18 to 45 years. The association of these diseases with age, blood group, rhesus factors, place of donation and trend between the years were analyzed. From a total 212 blood donors, quarter 57(25%) had serological evidence of at least one of the two pathogens. The overall seroprevalence of hep B and hep C was 12.26% and 12.26% respectively. Among those females had higher prevalence 15.38%, with majority between the age of 18 to 30 years at 12.50%. Donors of blood group A was most common 16.12% and donors from community also had a high seroprevalence 15.69% compared to other places of donation. The overall sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus were relatively high at 12.26% and was not statistically significant (p-value 0.60) however, a substantial prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus was found among blood donors donating to Gulu Regional Blood Bank