Prakash M. Patil1, Sneha Jawalkar2, Shruti Kulkarni3, Mayank Kumar4, Mohd. Shannawaz5
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B infection has become one of major health problems worldwide. It causes approximately 1-2 million deaths per year worldwide. India has a population of more than 1.2 billion and comprises of 43 million people positive for hepatitis B virus(HBV) and 15 million people positive for hepatitis C virus(HCV). HBV and HCV infections are significant health problems that might be associated with cirrhosis of liver and hepatocellular carcinoma. AIMS: The present study was undertaken to know the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV and to compare seroprevalence of HBV and HCV among blood donors of Bijapur district, Karnataka. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted over a period of 2 years, 6 months from July 2011 to December 2013. A total 7, 018 blood donors of both sexes were selected. 5ml of blood was collected in a plain, sterile bottle. Sera was separated by centrifugation and analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay and alternatively by rapid assays at blood bank of BLDE Shri B. M. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre Vijaypur. RESULTS: We screened total 7, 018 blood donors out of which 5, 936 (84.6%) were males and 1, 082 (15.41%) were females. Hepatitis B was more prevalent 2.2%, 2.6%and 1.5% compared to hepatitis C infection i.e., 00%, 0.37% and 0.37% among blood donors in years 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. The seroprevalence of hepatitis B infection (6.3%) was much more higher than hepatitis C (0.74%) among the blood donors. CONCLUSION: By this study we concluded that the seroprevalence of hepatitis B infection is more than hepatitis C infection and both HBV and HCV infections are common serious complications of blood transfusion. Appropriate vaccination, motivation and creating awareness among both rural and urban population about transfusion transmissible infection would lead to an effective control of transfusion transmissible infections.
