Seroprevalence of anti- HEV among blood Donors in Lagos, Nigeria.– A pilot study
Journal Title: The Journal of Medical Research - Year 2017, Vol 3, Issue 4
Abstract
Background: Hepatitis E is a common infection in developing countries like Nigeria because of poor sanitation and weak public health facilities. Presently, in Nigeria the mandatory infectious disease screening test for voluntary blood donors does not include HEV, with the emerging evidence of the transfusion transmissibility of HEV because potentially infected donors may never have shown clinical signs and considering the fact that HEV cannot be fully inactivated in blood-derived products, this virus has recently emerged as a transfusion-transmitted pathogen of concern and a potential threat to transfusion safety. To establish whether HEV may be a risk to transfusion safety and, more in general, a problem for public health, the first step is to assess its real Seroprevalence in blood donors and the general population. Aim: To characterize the seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgM and IgG in blood donors in Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Sera from 151 donors were screened for anti-HEV IgM and IgG by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation and all statistical analysis was performed using SPSS ver¬sion 23.0 statistical software (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) where P-value of 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results: In this study 151 blood donors were enrolled, overall seroprevalence for HEV of 6.6% was determined. HEV IgG had a significant prevalence of 5.3% as against HEV IgM 1.3% (P = 0.00). Higher prevalence was found among males compared to females. A higher HEV detection rate was observed in the younger age group with 80% (8/10) of the anti-HEV positive donors aged 20 – 40 years old (P = 0.9). In this study, no significant association was observed (p > 0.05) between seropositivity and the risk factors associated with HEV infection. Conclusions: This pilot study of HEV seroprevalence in blood donors in Lagos, South-west Nigeria has revealed that though low the potential for HEV contamination in the blood supply to recipients does exist. However as the presence of HEV RNA was not examined in this study, no conclusive data can be generated on active HEV prevalence in blood donors. Further studies will be needed in determining active HEV prevalence in blood donors so as to determine if HEV screening will be necessary and cost effective on a larger scale to reduce the risk of on-going infection to a vulnerable population in Nigeria.
Authors and Affiliations
SO John-Olabode, O Ajie, V Osunkalu, A Akinbami, K Aile
Keywords
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- EP ID EP442673
- DOI 10.31254/jmr.2017.3410
- Views 125
- Downloads 0
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