A Study on ALT levels in Hepatitis Marker Positive Donors -Anti-HBc Positive Rate in Blood Donors-

Oh, Deok Ja; Hwang, Yoo Seong; Choi, Joong Moon; Min, Tae Hee

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Hepatitis viral markers and ALT levels were evaluated in 190,679 blood donors to infer correlation between positive and control groups. The positive rate of anti-HBc was also observed in HBsAg and anti-HBs negative donors to know necessity about adding the item to the donor screening test.
METHODS
The viral markers were tested by EIA method and ALT test was carried by auto-chemistry analyzer. Anti-HCV ELISA positive samples were confirmed by immunoblot assay.
RESULTS
The rate of HBsAg(+) was 3.01% and that of anti-HCV was 0.54% of blood donors. The rate of HBsAg(+) and anti-HCV(+) was 0.01% of blood donors. Average ALT level of anti-HCV(+) (immunoblot assay) group was significantly higher than that of the control group. (p<0.001). The positive rate of anti-HCV in confirmatory test (immunoblot assay) was 15.76%. The proportion of donors who were HBsAg(-) and anti-HBs(-) and anti-HBc(+) was 1.87% in 1500 blood donors.
CONCLUSION
The average ALT levels seem to be not correlated with viral hepatitis marker positivity except anti-HCV immunoblot assay positivity. It is suggested that anti-HBc and anti-HBs test should be added to screening test for donors and recipients to prevent post transfusional hepatitis.