Prevalence Of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen And Hepatitis B Core Antibody Among Prospective Blood Donors In Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

 Hepatitis B (HB) virus (HBV) remains a major risk factor for safe blood use. Compulsory pretransfusion screening for HB core antibody (anti-HBc) to detect occult HBV infection in HB surface
antigen (HBsAg)-negative persons and prevent post-transfusion HBV infection in the target area is
an unmet need. This study aimed to evaluate the presence of HBsAg and anti-HBc in prospective
blood donors in Abuja, Nigeria and determine their association with age, gender, marital status (MS)
and education. The research adopted the principle of enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) method
for the evaluation of the presence of Total anti-HBc positivity and HBsAg-status among blood
donors; and analysed their association with age, gender, MS and education using chi-squared (X2)
test. The results were presented in simple tables and figures. A total of 300 individuals participated
in the study. The p-value was set at P<0.05 as significant level. Data for 300 participants were
analysed with male:female dominant ratio of 24:1, recording prevalence of 7.7% (HBsAg+) and
17.7% (anti-HBc). Age group 25-34 years had the highest prevalence: 3.7% for HBsAg+ and 8.3%