Seroepidemiology of Some Transfusion Transmissible Viral Infections in Jos,North-Central Nigeria

Background: Despite current efforts and availability of advanced technology such as nucleic acid amplification

testing and Immunoassays, the risk of Transfusion Transmissible viral Infections (TTVIs) continues to exist. In low

resource economies, where periodic large scale serosurveillance is impracticable; the use of donor seroprevalence

to monitor the trends of epidemiologically significant TTVIs in adult population becomes imperative. This study

therefore aimed to determine blood donor profile and seroepidemiology of HIV, HBV and HCV infection status in Jos

North-Central Nigeria.

Methods: A cross sectional study in which 510 prospective blood donors were recruited as they presented for

donation at the National Blood Transfusion Service centre and Plateau Specialist Hospital Jos. Their blood samples

were tested for HbsAg, anti-HCV, and HIV, using a third generation ELISA. Data analyzed with SPSS version 20,

associations between categorical variables tested using Chi-square (χ2) test and P<0.05 was considered significant.

There were 510 respondents, aged 18 to 65 years. Mean age ± SD was 30.20 ± 9.10. The overall

prevalence of TTVIs was 15.5%. The prevalence of HBV, HIV and HCV were 7.5%. 3.1% and 2.7% respectively,

while that of co infection HIV/HBV, HIV/HCV and HBV/HCV were 1.6%; 0.2%; and 0.4% respectively.

Conclusion: There is a decline in the prevalence of TTVIs in Jos, North-central Nigeria, and there is a significant

association between educational level and blood donation (P<0.05). We recommend a need to sustain the present

policies, and efforts, donor education, implementation of stringent donor eligibility criteria and use of more sensitive

viral genome detection methods to further minimize the risk