ABSTRACT
Aim: To investigate the seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) among voluntary blood donors in University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Nigeria with the purpose of determining whether routine CMV screening for donors is justified or not. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Haematology and Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin city, Nigeria, between May and September, 2010. Methodology: Sera from randomly selected one hundred and ninety-two (192) voluntary blood donors, consisting of 176 males and 16 females that visited the hospital from May to September 2010 were evaluated for CMV-IgG and IgM antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based kit. Results: Seroprevalence for CMV-IgG and IgM were 95.8% and 3.1% respectively. All female donors (n=16) were positive for IgG. A total of 114 out of 192 (59.4%) donors were within the age bracket of 30-39 years. A prevalence of 100% for CMV IgG antibody was observed in age group ≥50 years, Conclusion: Routine screening of donors for CMV-IgG antibody would amount to waste of resources given the high prevalence of 95.8%. Periodic screening to identify the small percentage of seronegative blood donors (4.2%) who are needed for the ever increasing number of immunosuppressed recipients is recommended.
ABSTRACT
Total serum protein, albumin, total globulin levels, albumin/globulin ratio as well as the various globulin fractions were determined in 96 subjects, 39 are sickle cell (SS) disease subjects (steady state), and 30 are heterozygous sickle cell (AS) trait and 27 normal control subjects. The mean standard deviation of total protein was significantly higher (P< 0.05) in sickle cell disease when compared with heterozygous AS and normal controls. There was also significant difference (P<0.05) between AS and AA. The albumin level in sickle cell disease was significantly higher than in the other two groups. There was hyperglobuneamia observed in SS individuals with a mean ±SD of 32.6±10.0g/L when compared with AS and AA subjects with a mean ±SD of 30.8± 5.9g/L and 26.7±6.2g/L respectively. There also exist a significant difference between AS and AA (P <0.005). The Albumin/Globulin ratio is significantly lower (P <0.05) in SS than the other two groups but there was no significant difference (P>0.05) observed between AS and AA controls. The globulin fractions were observed to be higher in AS individuals except the gamma globulin which is higher in SS subjects. The hyperproteineamia as a result of the hyperglobulineamia is due to the globulin fraction present in the serum of SS individuals. The AS individuals are protected from various infectious disease conditions because of the high acute phase reactants and ß- globulin present in their serum as these has been observed to exert some immunioregulatory role