Introduction: Hemodialysis is a trusted intermediate procedure for management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. As such CKD is an immune-deficient state, hence, they may be infected by hepatitis B virus (HCV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) during hemodialysis. Eventually, HBV and HCV infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among patients of hemodialysis. Prevalence of HBV and HCV infection among hemodialysis patients is highly variable. Aim of the study:This study was designed to see the prevalence of HBV and HCV among hemodialysis patients of Tripura, India and to evaluate the mode of transmission. Materials and methods:This is a single center prospective study among the patients who has come for hemodialysis at the Dialysis Unit of Agartala Government Medical College and Govinda Ballav Pant Hospital during the period of January 2011 to June 2011.Results: Male predominance has been observed among the hemodialysis patients and mean age of the patients was 48.16 years. New HBV infection was found in 5.5% of the hemodialysis patients (cumulative 7.3%) and 10.9% (cumulative 12.12%) of patients got new HCV infection during hemodialysis. Coinfection with both HBV and HCV was found among 1.2% of hemodialysis patients. History of blood transfusion was found in 100% of newly infected HBV and HCV patients. Discussion:The evaluation suggests that blood transfusion may be the single most important risk factor for HBV and HCV infection among hemodialysis patients. Newer methods of screening of blood in blood bank like nucleic acid test or polymerase chain reaction amplification of nucleic acids should be adopted to prevent HBV and HCV transmission

Background Blood-borne viral infections, like hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are most common during blood transfusion. Morbidity and mortality resulting from the transfusion of infected blood have far reaching consequences not only for the recipients themselves but also for their families, communities and the wider society.Aims The study was designed to determine the prevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV among voluntary and replacement blood donors of Tripura, India, and to study the trends of HBV, HCV and HIV infections in the population.Materials and methods This study is a retrospective cross-sectional study. The data was collected for consecutive 8 years from 2005 to 2013. Analyses were done in respect of total blood collection and HBV, HCV and HIV infections among the donors.Results Among all donors, 91.8% was voluntary donors and 8.2% was replacement donors. The average HBV, HCV and HIV positivity was 1.2% (95% CI: 1.155-1.255), 0.109% (95% CI: 0.0950.125) and 0.093% (95% CI: 0.080-0.108) respectively. Among these, HBV seropositivity was 1.19% among voluntary donors and 1.33% among replacement donors and, in case of HCV and HIV, the seropositivity among voluntary and replacement donors were 0.109%, 0.11% and 0.089%, 0.145% respectively. HBV positivity was reduced in 8 years, whereas those of HCV and HIV remain unchanged.Conclusion The most important observation of this study is gradual decrease in prevalence of HBV (p = 0.0018), whereas change in prevalence of HCV and HIV was not statistically significant. This might be due to mass hepatitis B vaccination program in Tripura.How to cite this article: Bhaumik P, Debnath K. Prevalence of Blood-Borne Viral Infections among Blood Donors of Tripura. Euroasian J Hepato-Gastroenterol 2014;4(2):79-82.

Hepatitis B is a global health problem. Among the South East Asian countries India is in intermediate zone of prevalence I.e. 2 to 5 %. 1 In the state of Tripura the prevalence of Hepatitis B among hemodialysis patients is 7.3% 2 and among voluntary blood donors it is 1.2%. 3 The present study is aimed to assess the prevalence of HBV infection in Tripura at community level in particular among the different ethnic communities prevailing in this region. METHODS: A cross sectional study at community level has been done. Total 6202 samples have been collected from healthy individual above 10 years of age and a 1:4 sampling of household done. Serological marker of HBs Ag was done by ELISA.RESULTS: Prevalence of HbsAg sero-positivity was 3.6% (95%CI 3.14-4.06) at community level of Tripura. A higher prevalence was found in males than females which was 4.5% (95%CI 3.77-5.23) & 2.65% (95%CI 2.08-3.22) respectively. The prevalence of Hepatitis B was found higher among tribal community than non-tribal community which was 5.3% (95%CI 4.49-6.10) and 1.97%(95%CI 1.49-2.45) respectively. Among tribal population highest prevalence was observed among Chakma community (11.41%) which was followed by Reang (7.69%), Noatia (6.09%), Jamatia (5.7%), Murasing (5.15%), Tripuri (4.95%), Halam(4.21%), and Lusai (2.7%) respectively. The study shows that HBsAgseropositivity increases with age in community level reaching peak between 61 to 80 years age group I.e. 4.8% which is statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Higher prevalence of Hepatitis B among tribal population is of paramount importance from public health point of view and early intervention by Hepatitis B vaccination will reduce the disease burden among Tribal population in Tripura.