Sero-prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus infections among blood banking donors in Makkah city, Saudi Arabia: an institutional-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Worldwide about 350 million people are infected with chronic hepatitis B (HBV) putting HBV infection among the most serious infectious disease problems. Blood transfusion is vital in saving lives but is associated with transfusion-transmittable infections e.g.HBV which can lead to adverse consequences. Objective: To determine HBV infection prevalence between donors of blood banking in Makkah,Saudi Arabia. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 2024 blood donors in two hospitals blood banks. Data were collected using laboratory blood screening tools. Data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical program. Statistically significance was considered at p < 0.05. Results: Our study was conducted on 4024 blood donor’s data. For Saudi donors, statistical analysis of HBV results has showed that 1% of donors were +ve for HBsAg and 6.8% of donors were +ve for anti-HBc. The results of NAT have showed that 1.1% of donors were positive and all were males. There is a high significance in age between 30-39 and 40-49 for NAT. The overall prevalence of HBsAg was 1% in Saudi donors. For non-Saudi donors, HBV results showed that 0.5% and 12.8% of donors were positive for HBsAg test and Anti-HBc test, respectively. The results of the Anti-HBc test were highly significant for the age range 30-39. The statistical analysis of NAT results showed that 0.8% of donors were positive and all were males. The overall prevalence of the HBsAg test among non-Saudi donors was 0.5%. Conclusion: The HBsAg and anti-HBc rates among blood donors have declined significantly. NAT is an important tool for viral detection which is expensive and not available everywhere. The total HBV prevalence between donors in Makkah was very low which may be due to recommended safety regulations followed in Makkah as its religious importance and application of an effective vaccine program.