Sero-prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV among Blood Donors in the Kintampo Municipal Hospital, Ghana

Aims: This study aimed at establishing the prevalence of some viral Transfusion Transmissible Infectious (TTI) agents among blood donors in the Kintampo North municipality of Ghana.

Study Design: A retrospective cross-sectional hospital based study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Laboratory unit of the Kintampo Municipal Hospital between May and August, 2013.

Methodology: Archived results (from January 2010 to December 2012) on blood donation from the hospital’s laboratory were reviewed manually. Data comprising age, sex and results on HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV tests of blood donors were reviewed. The data were analyzed using Microsoft excel 2007 statistical package.

Results: A total of 3402 people were screened for blood donation. Out of this number 3139 (92.3%) were males while 263 (7.7%) were females. The combined sero-prevalence of HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV was 19.5% (643/3139) and 11.4% (30/263) for males and females respectively. Hepatitis B surface antigen year-on-year prevalence was 9.6%. Anti-HCV and anti-HIV recorded year-on-year prevalences of 4.4% and 4.9% respectively. Donors younger than 20 years recorded the highest prevalence of HBsAg [15.9% (34/214)] followed by those in age group ≥20<30 [10.3% (170/1652)]. The highest prevalence rates of 6.1% and 5.0% for anti-HIV and anti-HCV were observed in age groups ≥50 and ≥30<40 years respectively. The commonest co-infection occurrence was HBV-HCV [45.5% (10/22)].

Conclusion: The prevalence of the viral TTI agents studied among blood donors in the Kintampo municipality is relatively high. Co-infection with HBV and HCV was also high.