Abstract

POZO, Elieth; CHAPARRO, Melissa  and  PADRON, Ana. Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B in blood donors from Maracaibo Zulia: Period 2000-2005. Kasmera [online]. 2007, vol.35, n.1, pp.49-55. ISSN 0075-5222.

Hepatitis B is a serious disease caused by a DNA virus that attacks the liver. The infection may either be acute or chronic. Hepatitis B is transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids containing the virus. This includes unprotected sexual contact, blood transfusions, re-use of contaminated needles and syringes, vertical transmission from mother to child during childbirth, and so on. To investigate the seroprevalence of the viral infection caused by the hepatitis B virus, the sera from a group of 46.563 blood donors was evaluated. These donors were apparently healthy, between 18 and 60 years old, male or female, and came to the “Instituto Hematológico de Occidente, Banco de Sangre” in Maracaibo from January 2000 to December 2005. Laboratory evaluation included third-generation ELISA tests to detect viral surface antigens (HBs-Ag) and total antibodies for the hepatitis B core antigen (Anti-HBc), and thereby discard infection in the donors. A total of 1.439 (3.09%) cases were seropositive for Anti-HBc, which corresponds to the real seroprevalence, since the marker found in this group indicates past infections. 97 (0.208%) sera where found to be positive for HBs-Ag, indicating incidence or new cases. However, 95 (0.205%) sera had both HBs-Ag and Anti-HBc positive, which means that both markers were present in each of these 95 donors and this could be a motive for the development of acute or chronic diseases. 95.16% of the positive sera where taken from male patients and the larger prevalence (32.42%) is between the ages of 29 through 39 years old. This data was analyzed using the ji-squared test which revealed that there is no statistical significance for the differences found. These results show the importance of applying educational campaigns related to Hepatitis B infection to the population attending this health center, which will hopefully lead to prevention of this disease. Likewise, it is important to optimize the laboratory procedures used to identify infectious diseases like hepatitis B.

Keywords : Seroprevalence; Hepatitis B; Surface Antigen; Anti-Core.