Seroprevalence of Surrogate Markers for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV in Healthy Blood Donors at Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex, Lahore

Abstract

Introduction: This project was aimed to determine the seropositivity status for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antiHepatitis C (HCV) antibodies and antibodies to Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) I and II in healthy blood donorsdonating blood at Shaikh Zayed Hospital Lahore.Material and Methods: The relevant data was collected during a period of 28 months from 1st January 2006 till 31st March2008. It was a cross sectional study which entailed screening of 60719 healthy donors. The donors were aged between 16years to 45 years. There were 93.43% males and 6.57% females.Results: The seroprevalence of Anti HCV antibodies was 3.870%; for HBsAg it was 1.407%; for HIV antibodies it was0.00658%. Our study demonstrated a higher seropositivity for HIV in healthy donor population than all of the previousreports except one with which it matched precisely. HBsAg showed a definite downwards inclination when compared withsimilar previous studies carried out in the last 7 years. Seroprevalence of anti HCV antibody was found to be similar whencompared with previous studies and demonstrated a higher trend in large cities with a multiethnic population.Key Words: MeSH: Blood donors, seroprevalence, HbsAg, antiHCV, HIV.

High Seropositivity of HIV, Hepatitis and Syphilis in Prisoner Blood Donors than the General Population Volunteers from the Punjab, Pakistan –A Longitudinal 13 Years Study

“…The prevalence of HBsAg Positive among general population donors in our study is also almost similar to reported for Punjab. However, prevalence among prisoner donors is high than reported for general population in our study and for Punjab (26,27,28,29). The prevalence of syphilis in our study among general population donors is half than reported by Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, Lahore (only study which reported prevalence of syphilis among blood donors in Punjab) (11).…”

“…The prevalence of HCV among general population donors in our study is almost similar to reported for Punjab. However, prevalence among prisoner donors is two to three times high than reported for general population in our study and for Punjab (26,27,28,29). The prevalence of HBsAg Positive among general population donors in our study is also almost similar to reported for Punjab.…”

HIV prevalence in blood donors and recipients in Pakistan: a meta-analysis and analysis of blood-bank data

“…The data were from nine large cities of the country and 10 studies were conducted in the city of Karachi alone, 13,14,[17][18][19][20]38,40,42,45 while six and four were conducted in Lahore 25,28,30,36,37,44 and Peshawar, 22,39,41,43 respectively. ELISA was the predominant screening technology used in 27 studies; 13,14,[17][18][19][20]22,23,25,29,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]42,45 one paper did not describe the methodology used, 31 while the remaining three studies were based exclusively either on immunochromatographic testing 24,30 or latex agglutination. 21 During 1988-2012, a total of 142 donors were reported to have HIV antibodies.…”

“…Fourteen reports described 285 208 sex-wise donations, including 258 628 male (90.7%) and 26 580 female (9.3%) donors. [18][19][20][21]23,27,28,[30][31][32]37,38,42,45 However, except for one study, 18 the HIV results were not delineated with respect to sex.…”

“…28,36 However, the latter studies were ELISA based and their results were not confirmed through supplemental testing. Four papers described the HIV seroprevalence in combined unpaid voluntary or family/ replacement donors, 23,26,33,37 and the HIV reactivity ranged from 0.004% to 0.23%. The HIV prevalence in paid and unpaid donors from slum areas of Karachi was reported in three reports, 13,17,42 but it was reported as nil.…”