title: Seroprevalence of Hepatitis E Virus infection among volunteer blood donors in central province of Iran in 2012.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major public health concern in developing countries. HEV transmission occurs primarily by the fecal-oral route. It has also been reported that blood donors are potentially able to cause transfusion-associated hepatitis E in endemic areas. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HEV infection among volunteer blood donors in Central province of Iran in 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 530 consecutive blood donor samples collected from Blood Transfusion Organization, Central Province of Iran. All samples were tested for the presence of IgG Hepatitis E antibody (anti-HEV) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 530 blood donors, 91.9% were male and 8.1% were female. Overall, anti-HEV was found in 76 of 530 samples (14.3%). There was no significant difference in HEV seropositivity between the subjects regarding gender and area of residence (urban vs. rural). Anti-HEV was distributed among all age groups. Although people aged 31-50 years had the highest prevalence, but there was no statistical difference between the age groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows a relatively high prevalence of anti-HEV in the blood donors of Central province of Iran. More investigations are needed to assess the potential benefit of adding HEV screening of blood products to the current blood donor selection criteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ehteram
authors.forename: Amitis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramezani
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eslamifar
authors.forename: Masoomeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sofian
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banifazl
authors.forename: Shahin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghassemi
authors.forename: Arezoo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aghakhani
authors.forename: Parisa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mashayekhi
keywords: Blood donor; Hepatitis E virus (HEV); Seroprevalence