Seroprevalence Of Hepatitis B In Healthy Blood Donors At Blood Bank Of Osmania General Hospital

ABSTRACT

Background - With every unit of blood, there is 1% chance of transfusion - associated problems including transfusion - transmitted disease. Hepatitis B infection is one of the transfusion transmissible infections, hence it is mandatory to test all blood donors for HBsAg and other infections like HIV, HCV, syphilis and malaria. Serosurveys are one of the primary methods to determine the prevalence of HBsAg. Objective - The aim of the present study was to know the seroprevalence of hepatitis B among blood donors and to compare the prevalence with other areas in India. Materials and methods - The retrospective study was conducted at the blood bank of Osmania general hospital. In this study blood donation records were reviewed over a period of two years from July 2012 to June 2014. Results - In the present study 6267 donors were reviewed, majority of them were 5948 (95%) males and 319 (5%) females. Majority of the donors belonged to the age group of 18-40 yrs. Seropositivity of HBsAg was higher among other transfusion transmitted diseases. Conclusion - The most complete data providing a picture of hepatitis B disease burden in India come from HBsAg seroprevalence studies. Decreasing trends of seroprevalence of HBsAg can be achieved by Increasing the public awareness about the disease and modes of prevention.