Prevalence of Hepatitis B core Antibody Seropositivity and Occult Hepatitis B in blood donors of Mashhad

Background: Hepatitis B is one of the most frequent blood born infections. Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is defined as the presence of HBV─DNA in serum and/or hepatocytes in HBsAg-negative individulas. OBI can be considered as a high potential risk factor for inducing post transfusion hepatitis (PTH), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), liver cirrhosis, and reactivation of the HBV. Recently, several investigations in various regions of Iran have reported OBI in blood donors. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) seropositivity among blood donors of Mashhad and evaluate the presence of HBV─DNA in HBsAg negative samples. Materials and methods: A total of 545 HBsAg negative samples were collected from healthy donors who referred to Mashhad blood center during June-Agust 2018. All samples were tested for the presence of HBcAb and the seropositive samples were tested for hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) using ELISA method. Furthermore, extracted DNA from all HBsAg negative samples were tested for the presence of S, C and X genes of the virus by real-time PCR technique. Results: The mean ages of 545 blood donors including 532 (98.2%) males and 8(1.8%) females was 38.4±10.3. Fifty-five (10.1%) of participants were first time donors. Thirty samples (5.5%) were found to be positive for HBcAb, of them 19 subjects (63.3%) were HBsAb positive. Based on three different HBV genes, the Prevalence of OBI is reported as zero. Conclusions: It is concluded that screening of HBcAb and/or HBVDNA would not be recommended as a routinely procedure in blood donation centers of Iran and cases with HBcAb seropositivity should be confimed by a nucleic acid test.