Abstract
Introduction: Blood donation is considered an essential practice that saves millions of lives; however, unsafe transfusion practices also put millions of people at risk of transfusion-transmissible infections. This study is aimed to describe the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus among blood donors in King Abdulla hospital (Bisha, KSA) in the duration from March 2013 to April 2019.
Methods: The study design is a retrospective cross-sectional hospital-based. The study investigates the percentages of the hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus among blood donors. The included samples were 16218. All samples were tested in the central blood bank by ELISA methods. Data were analyzed by SPSS 23 (2015).
Result: All the blood donors were males. The age of donors ranged from 18 to 55 and most of them were in the age group 20-30 years (37.3). The prevalence of HBC, HCV and HIV were 0.5%, 0.3% and 0.1% respectively. Percentages reported in Bisha were the lowest across Saudi Arabia.
Conclusion: TThe percentages of positive blood donors for HCV, HBV, and HIV in Bisha are lowers across Saudi Arabia. All the blood donors were males of young age (24yrs). Only 0.8% of the participant donors were positive for viral hepatitis or HIV. Among the positive donors, the most common infection was HBsAg (0.5%) followed by HCV (0.3 %) and HIV (0.1%). Although the Hepatitis B virus was considered hyperendemic in Saudi Arabia, Bisha showed a low percentage (0.3%).
We recommend enhancing immunization programs and public awareness about transmission routes to decrease the percentages of blood-borne viruses. Pre-marital, antenatal screening, and pre-recruitment investigations can limit viral transmission. Blood bank screening of donors is crucial in the screening and prevention of viral hepatitis and HIV infections.