PREVALANCE OF HEPATITIS B AND HEPATATIS C AMONG HEALTHY BLOOD DONORS AT KURRAM AGENCY

Objectives:- To find sero-prevalance of HBSAg and HCV antibody among healthy donors of Kurram Agency, FATA, Pakistan Material and Methods:- The study design was cross-sectional. Data was collected from blood transfusion units, Pathology departments, blood donor units at Parachinar and Sadda to know the frequency of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in healthy blood donors. For blood donations non professional blood donor were selected. Questions regarding frequent blood donation, surgical procedure in past and other risk factors about hepatitis B and C transmission were asked. Screening for HBsAg, and HCV antibodies was done by using rapid immunochromatography kits Results:- A total of thirteen hundred healthy donors were received during a period of one year. The seroprevalence of various infectious markers was as follows; Out of the total 1300, 66(5.07%) donors were found to be positive for Hepatitis B surface antigen HBsAg and 15(1.1%) were found positive for HCV antibody. Six donors were positive for both HBsAg and Anti HCV antibody. Conclusion:- It is concluded that HCV and HBV has become major problems in FATA like rest of the country and screening for not only blood donation but also in general should be done to prevent the disease escalation. Due to the high cost of treatment of hepatitis B and C virus infection and the unavailability of a vaccine against HCV, the main focus should be on preventive aspects. Here comes the importance of identifying the genotype of the virus infecting a person, which is not a common practice in Pakistan. Mostly treatment is given without knowing the genotype, which may result in no response or emergence of mutant strains of the virus.