The prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies among the voluntary blood donors of New Delhi, India.
Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of transfusion-associated hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The present study was conducted with an objective to evaluate the prevalence of anti-HCV antibody in New Delhi, India using a large number of healthy voluntary blood donors. A total of 15,898 healthy voluntary blood donors were subjected to anti-HCV testing (using a commercially available third generation anti-HCV ELISA kit) and 249 were found to be reactive for anti-HCV antibody, yielding an overall prevalence of 1.57%. No significant difference was found between the HCV positivity rate of male (1.57%; 238/15,152) vs. female (1.47%; 11/746) donors, family (1.58%; 213/13,521) vs. altruistic (1.51%; 36/2377) donors and first-time (1.55%; 180/11,605) vs. repeat (1.61%; 69/4293) donors. The age distribution of anti-HCV reactivity showed a maximum prevalence rate of 1.8% in the age group of 20-29 years. In addition, there was a clear trend of decreasing positivity for anti-HCV with increasing age and this trend was statistically significant. The results of the present study show that the prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies in the healthy voluntary blood donors of New Delhi, India is considerably higher than the reported seroprevalence of HCV in majority of the industrialized nations and this represents a large reservoir of infection capable of inflicting significant disease burden on the society. In addition, donors of New Delhi, India showed a trend of decreasing seroprevalence with increasing age, possibly implying a higher exposure rate to HCV in younger subjects.
Jain
A
A
Department of Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India.
Rana
S S
SS
Chakravarty
P
P
Gupta
R K
RK
Murthy
N S
NS
Nath
M C
MC
Gururaja
S
S
Chaturvedi
N
N
Verma
U
U
Kar
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014838:Volunteers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies