Safety of blood transfusion: Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in blood donors in Zaria, Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Background:Hepatitis B infection has long been known to be common in the general population and due to its mode of transmission through blood transfusion; it had made provision of safe blood difficult especially in developing countries. Method: A retrospective study aimed at reassessing the current of sero-prevalence of hepatitis B infection in blood donors in a typical developing country was conducted. Results: Six thousand and twenty five regular blood were screened our of which 254 (4.2%) were HBsAg positive with lowest rates being in 2001 (3.5%) and the highest rates occurred in 2002(5.1%).Age of donors ranged from 19-42years with a mean 33 years, 98% were males while only 2% were females. Prevalence of HBsAg was 47.2% in patients' replacement donors, 44.5% in relations of antenatal clinic attendees and 8.3% in voluntary donors. Conclusions: This study has revealed a high prevalence rate of hepatitis B infections in all age groups and categories of blood donors in our setting which makes transfusion of unscreened hazardous.