RESUMEN
The screening tests for donor blood samples in blood bank are important to prevent the recipients from blood transmitted diseases. The common hepatitis viruses that are transmitted through blood transfusion are hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections in the first donating blood donor in the YALA province from January 2001 to December 2005 by retrospective analysis of data from laboratory record of the YALA regional hospital. The total number of the first time blood donors was 11,611. Amongst these, hepatitis B virus infected donors were 310 (2.67%) consisting of 262 males (2.78%) and 48 females (2.17%). The prevalence of hepatitis C virus infected donors was 183 (1.58%) with 164 males (1.74%) and 19 females (0.86%). Hepatitis B virus infections were mostly found in age ranging of 36-45 years old (2.92%) where as hepatitis C virus infections were mostly found in 26-35 years of age (2.21%). However, there were no statistically significant associations between the prevalences with the age groups and sexes of people who were infected with hepatitis B viruses but statistically significant associations between the prevalences with the age groups and sexes were found in the hepatitis C virus infections (P=0.003; chi-square test). These data form basic information on the prevalences of viral hepatitis infections in the YALA province would be useful for strategic planning in donor recruitment and blood transfusion.