Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hepatitis B among Blood Donors in Al-Najaf Governorate

Mahdi Abd Ali Abbood Al-faham¹, Roohollah Nakhaei Sistani², Musa Nima Mezher AL-Jaifry³, Alaa Abdulhussein Rasool⁴ and Hashim Ali Abdualmeer Al-sherees^5*

¹ Department of Microbiology. Main blood bank in AL-Najaf governorate/Iraq.

²Faculty of Chemistry University of Kashan/Iran

³Faculty of Science Kufa University/ Iraq.

⁴ Department of  Microbiology, Najaf Health department/Iraq.

⁵ Department of Microbiology / faculty of Medicine / University of Kufa/Iraq.

Corresponding Author E-mail : hashimaa49@yahoo.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2878

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global problem. When the virus replicates in the hepatocytes, the liver functions will be impaired and the infection will spread throughout the liver. Blood and blood products contain HBV, and therefore the virus could be transmitted via blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of viral hepatitis B (HBsAg and anti-HBc antibody) among the blood donors of the main blood bank in AL-Najaf governorate (central Iraq). We also analyzed some factors which may be associated with HBV infection. To do this, a total of 16273 blood samples were collected from voluntary donors from (20/5/2016) to (12/12/2016). The presence of HBV was tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for HBsAg and anti-HBc antibody. The samples were also analyzed in part for age range, gender, profession, liver enzymes and blood characterization. Our results showed that 41 individuals were chronically infected with HBV, one of them was female. Most of the infected patients were aged between 28-37 years old (47.6%). It is showed that HBV infected people have significantly higher levels of Serum Glutamic-Oxaloacetic Transaminase (SGOT) and Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) compared with the control (P < 0.001 and P < 0.011 respectively). The increased levels were also observed for lymphocytes and platelets (P <0.055 and P <0.429 respectively). The results also showed that the virus is more distributed between drivers (33.3%).

KEYWORDS: Age Ranges; ALT; AST; Hepatitis B Virus; Blood Groups; Profession

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