Foluke A Fasola, Adeola A Fowotade, Adedayo O Faneye, Adeyeni Adeleke
{"title":"Prevalence of hepatitis B virus core antibodies among blood donors in Nigeria: Implications for blood safety.","authors":"Foluke A Fasola, Adeola A Fowotade, Adedayo O Faneye, Adeyeni Adeleke","doi":"10.4102/ajlm.v11i1.1434","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Anti-hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) testing improves transfusion safety by detecting past and current hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection while detecting hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in serology-negative HBV infection. However, occult HBV infection (OBI) (serum or liver HBV DNA-positive but HBsAg-negative) remains unaddressed among replacement blood donors - family members or friends who donate to replace blood transfused to a relative.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study assessed risk factors for a positive anti-HBc test among donors with OBI and determined the anti-HBc-positive status of replacement donors.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The study was conducted at the University College Hospital Blood Bank, Ibadan, Nigeria, using blood samples collected from blood donors between April 2019 and May 2019. Donors were screened for HBsAg by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and anti-HBc by ELISA, while HBV DNA was detected using a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 274 participants, 15 (5.5%) were HBsAg-positive by RDT and 36 (13.1%) by ELISA, while 133 (48.5%) were anti-HBc positive. Out of 232 HBsAg-negative donors, 107 (46.1%) were anti-HBc positive. Of the 107 HBsAg-negative but anti-HBc-positive samples, only one (0.93%) was HBV DNA-positive. The HBV DNA-positive donor was HBsAg-negative by both RDT and ELISA tests.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study establishes a potential risk for HBV transmission from isolated anti-HBc-positive donors to blood recipients. HBc immunoglobulin (antibody) M testing to identify blood units requiring further screening with polymerase chain reaction to detect OBI can prevent HBV transmission through blood transfusion.</p>","PeriodicalId":45412,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Laboratory Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9350478/pdf/","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"African Journal of Laboratory Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v11i1.1434","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
Background: Anti-hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) testing improves transfusion safety by detecting past and current hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection while detecting hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in serology-negative HBV infection. However, occult HBV infection (OBI) (serum or liver HBV DNA-positive but HBsAg-negative) remains unaddressed among replacement blood donors - family members or friends who donate to replace blood transfused to a relative.
Objective: This study assessed risk factors for a positive anti-HBc test among donors with OBI and determined the anti-HBc-positive status of replacement donors.
Methods: The study was conducted at the University College Hospital Blood Bank, Ibadan, Nigeria, using blood samples collected from blood donors between April 2019 and May 2019. Donors were screened for HBsAg by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and anti-HBc by ELISA, while HBV DNA was detected using a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction.
Results: Of the 274 participants, 15 (5.5%) were HBsAg-positive by RDT and 36 (13.1%) by ELISA, while 133 (48.5%) were anti-HBc positive. Out of 232 HBsAg-negative donors, 107 (46.1%) were anti-HBc positive. Of the 107 HBsAg-negative but anti-HBc-positive samples, only one (0.93%) was HBV DNA-positive. The HBV DNA-positive donor was HBsAg-negative by both RDT and ELISA tests.
Conclusion: This study establishes a potential risk for HBV transmission from isolated anti-HBc-positive donors to blood recipients. HBc immunoglobulin (antibody) M testing to identify blood units requiring further screening with polymerase chain reaction to detect OBI can prevent HBV transmission through blood transfusion.
期刊介绍:
The African Journal of Laboratory Medicine, the official journal of ASLM, focuses on the role of the laboratory and its professionals in the clinical and public healthcare sectors,and is specifically based on an African frame of reference. Emphasis is on all aspects that promote and contribute to the laboratory medicine practices of Africa. This includes, amongst others: laboratories, biomedical scientists and clinicians, medical community, public health officials and policy makers, laboratory systems and policies (translation of laboratory knowledge, practices and technologies in clinical care), interfaces of laboratory with medical science, laboratory-based epidemiology, laboratory investigations, evidence-based effectiveness in real world (actual) settings.