Title: Prevalence of Hepatitis C among Voluntary Blood Donors in Mumbai
Authors: Dr Shilpa Laxmikant Narayankar, Dr Vikas Chandrahas Maindad
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v4i11.35
Background: According to WHO, 12 million Indians are suffering from hepatitis C. Prevalence of HCV in healthy blood donors represents prevalence of carrier state in the population. High rate of anti-HCV antibody (anti-HCV) positivity, which is seen in individuals who are transfused multiple times, is an indicator of risk of contracting HCV by blood transfusion 1. Methods: All voluntary donors reporting to the blood bank were screened for HCV antibodies by using the appropriate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The study was designed for duration of seven years between January 2008 to December 2014. Medical reports of the donors were accessed from the blood bank records and analyzed. Results: A total of 5606 voluntary blood donors were screened, of which 5120 (91.33%) were males and 486 (8.67%) were females. The seroprevalence of Hepatitis C was 1.49%. Conclusion: Blood borne transmission of hepatitis C virus continues to occur despite implementation of highly sensitive screening tests for HCV, suggesting these assays are still not sensitive enough to prevent all infections. Key words: Hepatitis C, blood donors. 1. Pandit DP, MPP Chaudhury N. Prevalence of Antibodies to Hepatitis C Virus in Voluntary Blood Donors: Are Women Better Donors? J Clin Diagn Res. 2014 Apr; 8(4): DC20–DC23. 2. Who Hepatitis C.Fact sheet N°164Updated July 2015. http://www.who.int/-mediacentre/factsheets/fs164/en/ 3. Messina JP, Humphreys I, Flaxman A, Brown A, Cooke GS, Pybus OG, and Barnes E. Global Distribution and Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Genotypes. Hepatology. 2015 Jan; 61(1): 77–87.Published online 2014 Jul 28. 4. Khodabandehloo M, Roshani D, Sayehmiri K. Prevalence and trend of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Res Med Sci. 2013 Aug; 18(8): 674–682. 5. Giri P A, Deshpande J D, Phalke D B, Karle L B. Seroprevalence of transfusion transmissible infections among voluntary blood donors at a tertiary care teaching hospital in rural area of India. J Family Med Prim Care. 2012 Jan-Jun; 1(1): 48–51. 6. Meena M, Jindal T, Hazarika A. Prevalence of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus among blood donors at a tertiary care hospital in India: a five-year study. Transfusion. 2011 Jan;51(1):198-202. 7. Gupta S, Kumar R, Kaur A. Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Seropositivity among Blood Donors in a Tertiary Care Hospital. Int. Res. J. Medical Sci. February (2015) Vol. 3(2), 22-24. 8. Ramya SR , Kulkarni M. Hepatitis C Virus- Epidemiology and Genotyping. IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences (IOSR-JDMS) e-ISSN: 2279-0853, p-ISSN: 2279-0861.Volume 14, Issue 3 Ver. VIII (Mar. 2015), PP 29-34. 9. Singh P, Kaur R, Kaur A. Frequency distribution of Hepatitis C virus in different geographical regions of Punjab: Retrospective study from a tertiary care centre in North India. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2014 Jan-Jun; 5(1): 56–58. 10. Makroo RN, Walia RS, Chowdhry M, Bhatia A, Hegde V, Rosamma NL. Seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibodies among blood donors of north India. Indian J Med Res. 2013 Jul; 138(1): 125–128. 11. Yeung CY, Lee HC, Chan WT, Jiang CB, Chang SW, Chuang CK. Vertical transmission of hepatitis C virus: Current knowledge and perspectives. World J Hepatol. 2014 Sep 27;6(9):643-51. 12. Hans R, Marwaha N. Nucleic acid testing-benefits and constraints. Asian Journal of Transfusion Science, Vol. 8, No. 1, January-June, 2014, pp. 2-3.Abstract
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