Epidemiology of hepatitis E virus in male blood donors in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
To our knowledge, only a few epidemiological reports on the prevalence of hepatitis E antibodies in Saudi blood donors have been published. Men of several nationalities, donating blood at King Khalid National Guard Hospital (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) were selected (n = 593) for this study examining the seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in the local male donor population and testing the relationship of the antibody to HEV (anti-HEV) to donor characteristics using Odds Ratio (OR) and Chi-square statistic. The prevalence of anti-HEV in the group examined was 16.9 per cent (100/593). The seroprevalence for Saudi donors was 14.8 per cent compared with 33.3 per cent for non-Saudis of Middle Eastern origin. Donors who were 40 yr and over had significantly higher seroprevalence than those donors who were 30 yr or younger (OR = 2.5, p = 0.006). There was a significant association between anti-HEV and anti-HCV with donors who were positive to anti-HCV having about 5 times the risk of HEV than those who were anti-HCV negative (p = 0.02). These findings demonstrate the high seroprevalence rate of anti-HEV among male blood donors in Saudi Arabia.
Abdelaal
M
M
Department of Pathology, King Khalid National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Zawawi
T H
TH
al Sobhi
E
E
Jeje
O
O
Gilpin
C
C
Kinsara
A
A
Osoba
A
A
Oni
G A
GA
D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D001782:Blood Donors; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000453:epidemiology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000914:Antibodies, Viral