Abstract
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects almost 400 million patients worldwide. The pandemic of HBV has therefore become a focus of attention in many countries as they work to reduce the risk of transmission. One of these countries is Saudi Arabia where Hepatitis B is classified as hyper-endemic. The aim of this study is to establish the prevalence of HBV markers among blood donors in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia. Serological markers of HBV were studied in 32,531 blood donors from six blood donation centers using commercially available kits, over a period of 2 Hijri years or from November 4, 2013 to October 13, 2015 at Qassim region, Saudia Arabia. The prevalence of confirmed positive test results of this virus was evaluated and studied. During the conduct of the study, prevalence rates of 0.42% were positive for hepatitis B virus markers. There was an overall reduction in the prevalence of HBV among Qassim blood donors in this period by 0.10%. Noticeable reduction was seen in central hospital, where the rate dropped by 0.20%, while other cities showed different variations. This study estimated that 320 units (2.05%) of blood were discarded due to positive markers for HBV. The prevalence rate of HBV markers among blood donors in Qassim region is lower as compared to other regions in Saudi Arabia. The reduction in the prevalence of Hepatitis B could represent an improvement in donor selection, although there were small variations between cities and further precautions should be considered.