Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Among Blood Donors in Eastern Saudi Arabia: Results From a Five-Year Retrospective Study of HBV Seromarkers.
BACKGROUND
Transfusion-transmissible hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major problem worldwide. Recently, confirmatory nucleic acid tests (NATs) for HBV DNA have been employed in several countries. We assessed the prevalence and yearly trends of HBV infection in blood donors in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, screening for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), antibody against HBV core antigen (anti-HBc), and HBV DNA.


METHODS
Between 2011 and 2015, a total of 22,842 donors were screenedfor HBsAg, anti-HBc, and HBV DNA using the HBsAg Qualitative II kit (Abbott, Ireland Diagnostics Division, Sligo, Ireland), ARCHITECT Anti-hepatitis B core antigen antibody (HBc) II Assay kit (Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Wiesbaden, Germany), and NAT Procleix Ultrio Elite Assay kit (Grifols Diagnostic Solutions Inc., Los Angeles, CA, USA), respectively.


RESULTS
A total of 739 (3.24%) donors were HbsAg(+), anti-HBc(+), or HBV DNA(+); 63 (0.28%) were HbsAg(+), anti-HBc(+), and HBV DNA(+). Twelve (0.05%) were anti-HBc(+) and HBV DNA(+) but HBsAg(-); they were considered to have occult infection. Further, 664 (2.91%) were HBsAg(-) but anti-HBc(+), indicating chronic or resolving infection. HBV prevalence increased significantly from 2011 to 2012, increased marginally till 2013, and showed a decreasing trend from 2013 (P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The five-year prevalence of HBV infection among blood donors in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (3.24%) is lower than that reported for other regions in the country. The occult HBV infection rate of 0.05% emphasizes the importance of NATs in isolating potential infectious blood units.
['Alzahrani|Faisal Mousa|FM|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3354-1172', 'Muzaheed|||', 'Shaikh|Saeed Sattar|SS|', 'Alomar|Amer Ibrahim|AI|', 'Acharya|Sadananda|S|', 'Elhadi|Nasreldin|N|']
D015415:Biomarkers D001782:Blood Donors D004279:DNA, Viral D006509:Hepatitis B D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens D006515:Hepatitis B virus D006801:Humans D015995:Prevalence D012189:Retrospective Studies D012529:Saudi Arabia
Prevalence Hepatitis B virus Blood donors Saudi Arabia Nucleic acid test Antibody against hepatitis B virus core antigen Hepatitis B virus surface antigen