[Hepatitis B and C among volunteer non-remunerated blood donors in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo].

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to evaluate the global prevalence of hepatitis B and C among voluntary blood donor.

METHODS

In the study, 1079 blood donors were included. The investigation was carried out from 1 January till 31 December 2010 in the central Blood Bank of Bukavu in DRC. The median age of sample was 26 years. In total, 72.4% among them were male sex and 54.5% of new blood donors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of hepatitis B was 4.2% and hepatitis C was found in 3.8% case the coinfection VHB and VHC with 2.2%. VHB was prevalent in blood donor group of less than 30 years (5.0%), new blood donor (5.1%), in medical profession (7.1%) and in the male sex group (5.1%) and was significantly according to the sex (P=0.01) and the place of residence (P=0.002). A strong association was showed between the rural medium and hepatitis B OR 3,1 (1.4-6.5) and VHC OR 2.9 (1.3-6.5). After estimation with logistic regression a higher risk of seropositivity of VHB found in blood donor sex male group, married group, blood donor coming from the rural middle and having less than 30 years.

CONCLUSION

For blood safety, a particular attention must be laid in the selection of donor before a blood donation and in donation in reagent.