ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Hepatitis viral markers and ALT levels were evaluated in 190,679 blood donors to infer correlation between positive and control groups. The positive rate of anti-HBc was also observed in HBsAg and anti-HBs negative donors to know necessity about adding the item to the donor screening test. METHODS: The viral markers were tested by EIA method and ALT test was carried by auto-chemistry analyzer. Anti-HCV ELISA positive samples were confirmed by immunoblot assay. RESULTS: The rate of HBsAg(+) was 3.01% and that of anti-HCV was 0.54% of blood donors. The rate of HBsAg(+) and anti-HCV(+) was 0.01% of blood donors. Average ALT level of anti-HCV(+) (immunoblot assay) group was significantly higher than that of the control group. (p<0.001). The positive rate of anti-HCV in confirmatory test (immunoblot assay) was 15.76%. The proportion of donors who were HBsAg(-) and anti-HBs(-) and anti-HBc(+) was 1.87% in 1500 blood donors. CONCLUSION: The average ALT levels seem to be not correlated with viral hepatitis marker positivity except anti-HCV immunoblot assay positivity. It is suggested that anti-HBc and anti-HBs test should be added to screening test for donors and recipients to prevent post transfusional hepatitis.