Seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus among blood donors in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Anti-HCV pre-transfusion testing among blood donors has not been introduced as a mandatory test in Rivers State, hence the risk of transfusion-transmitted HCV cannot be fully ascertained. One thousand (1000) apparently healthy blood donors were screened using a rapid second - generation test, the HEP C SPOT HCV assay. An overall prevalence of 2.9% was observed in this study. The highest prevalence (8.1%) was found among adults aged between 26 and 33 years and commercial donors.