Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 This research was carried out to determine the prevalence of HBcAb among the HBsAg negative first-time blood donors who had referred to Khorramabad and Borujerd centers for blood donation.

 Materials and Methods

 This study was established on a descriptive cross-sectional basis in which HBsAg test (ELISA) was primarily performed on all of the donors having referred to Khorramabad and Borujerd blood centers then, out of all those referred 1000 subjects, who were first-time and HBsAg negative, were selected for furthur investigation. The information concerning age, gender, job, blood transfusion, and HBV vaccine injection was included in the questionnaire of the study. HBcAb (total & IgM) and HBsAb tests were performed on the selected donors. Data were collected and finally the prevalence rate of HBcAb was determined.

 Results

 The results of the study showed that out of 1000 HBsAg-negative first-time blood donors, only 47 were HBcAb⁺, from which 27 were HBcAb (total)⁺, and 3 were HBcAb (IgM)⁺. 18 were both HBsAb⁺ and HBcAb⁺, and 53 were seropositive only for HBsAb.

 Conclusions

 It was demonstrated that the first-time blood donors who are seronegative for HBsAg marker will be easily identified through HBcAb test if they are in the so-called core window period of the virus. Meanwhile, this group of donors have been implicated as high-risk for transfusion-transmitted HBV infection. So, detecting this marker will remarkably reduce the chance of latent cases of HBV infection and help promote blood safety.

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 Key words : Blood donor, Hepatitis B, Iran