Abstract

EVALUATION OF THE ANTI-HBC ANTIBODY SCREENING TEST IN DENOTATION OF HBS AG. AMONG BLOOD DONORS IN THI-QAR PROVINCE/IRAQ

Alyaa A. Hafudh, Saad A. Ateia*, Alaa H. Abed and Riyadh K. Abdulah

Abstract

Viral Hepatitis Type B is a serious public health problem throughout the world. Hepatitis B virus still to be the major causes of chronic hepatitis. Although, the blood banks using HBs Ag and anti-HBc Ab. as a screening tests for HBV, the post transfusion hepatitis B infections remain occur . the aim of this study is evaluation of efficacy of anti- HBc Ab in screening HBV infections among the blood donors in Thi- Qar province. A total of 13775 blood donors were involved in the study. The HBs Ag and anti-HBc antibody was detected by using ELISA technique. The study shows that the prevalence of anti-HBc alone was high among blood donors 379 (2.75%) when compared to the donors that gave positive results for both markers and HBs Ag alone ,13 (0.09%) and 20 (0.14%) respectively, with high significant differences among these groups under (p< 0.001). While the study shows no significant differences between the donors that gave positive results for both markers and HBs Ag only under (p< 0.05). In conclusion, the prevalence of anti-HBc among blood donors was high in compared with HBs Ag and this test showed high specificity & positivity among blood donors and this test requires for more researches to support the role of this antibody as a diagnostic and screening test for hepatitis B infections among blood donors and other medical settings.

Keywords: HBV serological markers, Blood transfusion, HBV prevalence.