Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C: The Bigger Threat in Multiple Infected HIV Positive Blood Donors 766-768
Correspondence
Dr. Neha Agrawal
Junior Resident
Department of Pathology,
GSVM Medical College, Kanpur-208 002
Uttar Pradesh, India.
E-mail: neha_doc2005@yahoo.co.in
Aim: To study the prevalence of hepatobiliary co-infections – Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive voluntary and replacement blood donors in the blood bank of a tertiary health care centre.
Methods: 2,48,387 donors were screened for HIV, HBV and HCV co-infections from 1999 to 2010 by using commercially available ELISA kits.
Results: The results were as follows: • The total number of donors who were studied from 1999 to 2010 – 2,48,387 • HIV positive cases – 273 (0.11%)The HCV co-infection was detected in 30/273 (10.99%) HIV positive donors, while the HBV co-infection was found in 6/273 (2.19%) donors. 5/273 (1.83%) HIV positive donors tested positive for both HBV and HCV.
Conclusion: The implication of HCV and/or HBV co-infection in apparently healthy HIV positive blood donors is of utmost importance as they mostly lie within the reproductive age group of 21-40 years. The knowledge of the co-infection in such cases is vital due to the increased risk of the sexual and perinatal transmission of the hepatitis virus along with increased hepatotoxicity with antiretroviral therapy and rapid progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.