title: The Role of anti-HBc IgM in Screening of Blood Donors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Transfusion transmitted hepatitis B has always been a dreaded disease, with incidence of increased transmission through donated blood. The screening test for hepatitis B infection is detection of HBsAg that does not rule out the risk of transmission of hepatitis B as the donor may be in the 'window period'. During this period, detection of the antibody to the hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc) IgM type serves as a useful serological marker. The aim of this study was to screen blood donors for anti-HBc type IgM and anti - HBc Ag total for detection and to find their incidence amongst blood donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  2552 voluntary blood donors were screened by the ELISA method for HBsAg and anti - HBc IgM and other mandatory screening markers. 704 of the test blood samples were also screened for anti-HBc total.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 2552 donor, 47 (1.84 %) cases were HBsAg positive. A total of 11 (0.43 %) blood units were reactive for HBcAg IgM and of these, 10 (0.39 %) were HBsAg negative and reactive for anti-HBcAg IgM. Of the 704 samples tested for anti - HBcAg total, 112 (15.9%) samples were reactive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Screening of blood for anti-HBc total is practical in the western world as the incidence of HBsAg and anti-HBc is low in these countries and these positive blood units for anti - HBcAg total can be discarded. This may not be practical in India as the incidence of anti- HBcAg total is high in our population. It is recommended that all blood units should be tested for anti - HBc IgM for infectivity status of the blood donors in the window period and to discard blood if positive.
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor (Department of Transfusion Medicine), Armed Forces Medical College, Pune.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Dy Director General (Provision), O/o DGAFMS, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jaiprakash
keywords: Anti hepatitis B core antigen; Hepatitis B surface antigen; Window period