The risk of hepatitis B virus infection by transfusion in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

The risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) transmission by transfusion in sub-Saharan Africa is considered to be relatively low, and testing of blood donors is often not done or is done relatively poorly. To reexamine this attitude, we identified HBV chronically infected blood donors from a major hospital in Ghana with a range of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) assays. Test efficacy was estimated using HBV DNA as a gold standard, and the risk of HBV infection in blood recipients was estimated for different testing strategies.

Molecular characterization of occult hepatitis B virus in genotype E-infected subjects

“…Two other samples (PW4 and PW5) contained anti-HBe antibodies, in association with either the A 1762 T / G 1764 A double mutation alone or combined with G 1896 A . This seromolecular diversity of OBI strains is not significantly different from that in HBsAg-positive genotype E chronic infections (Allain et al, 2003;Candotti et al, 2006).…”

“…The detection of HBeAg without detectable HBsAg in three samples (PW1, PW2 and BD2) was unusual, as previous data showed a clear association between low viral load and anti-HBe (Allain et al, 2003). Surprisingly, sample PW2 showed a combination of mutations G 1896 A and A 1762 T / G 1764 A , which are known to affect HBeAg production negatively (Table 3).…”

“…Based on the mean number of threshold cycles (C t ) for each dilution, a linear regression was constructed, with C t as a function of the log of the number of template molecules per reaction. By using this regression analysis, the number of template molecules per reaction was calculated from the mean of duplicates for each plasma sample (Allain et al, 2003).…”

“…Individual plasma samples collected from 1368 PW and 804 BD in Kumasi, Ghana, were screened for HBsAg and HBV DNA (Allain et al, 2003;Owusu-Ofori et al, 2005). Twenty (1.5 %) and 12 (1.7 %) of these PW and BD samples, respectively, were HBsAg non-reactive/confirmed HBV DNA-positive, and were categorized as carrying OBI.…”

“…Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronically infects .15 % of the Ghanaian population; by age 40, virtually 100 % of the population has been in contact with HBV and carries antibodies against the HBV core antigen (anti-HBc) (Allain et al, 2003). By age 16, 75 % of the population is anti-HBcpositive and the majority of the 15 % of chronic carriers have already developed anti-HBe [antibodies against the HBV 'e' antigen (HBeAg)] and carry a relatively low viral load (Candotti et al, 2006).…”