Prevalence of Occult Hepatitis B Virus Infection among Healthy Hbsag Negative Blood Donors in Owerri Town, South-east Nigeria

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with its attendant complications is a disease of major public health importance being the 10th leading cause of death globally. Transfusion transmitted HBV continues to be a major problem despite the routine screening of donor blood products using the ELISA method. This study is aimed to determine the prevalence of Occult Hepatitis B virus infection among healthy HBsAg negative blood donors in Owerri, South-East Nigeria. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in consecutive prospectiveblood donors in Owerri, South-East Nigeria. Results: A total of 180 participants were enrolled for the study. The age of the subjects ranged from 21 to 45 years with a mean [SD] of 26.85 [5.21] years. The male to female ratio was 4.6:1. Of the 180 participants, 33 (18.3%) had anti - HBc IgG positive antibodies. Out of the 33 anti - HBclgG positive participants, 5(15.2%) of them were anti-HBs positive while 13 (15.2%) of them had detectable HBV DNA.The prevalence of occult HBV infection was 7.2% (13/180). Conclusions: Occult HBV infection is not common among Nigerian blood donors. This study signifies the high prevalence of OBI and proposes that the blood samples in Nigeria should be pre-tested for OBI by Nucleic Acid Testing and/- or anti-HBV before transfusion to minimize the HBV transmission risk.