Hepatitis E Virus Seroprevalence Among Blood Donors in Bushehr, South of Iran

Behrouz Naeimi; Farnaz Mazloom Kalimani; Ali Akbar Pourfatolah; Masoud Azimzadeh; Alireza Mankhian; Samad Akbarzadeh; Gholamreza Hajiani; Faramarz Kooshesh; Gholamreza Khamisipour

doi:10.5812/hepatmon.29219

Hepatitis E Virus Seroprevalence Among Blood Donors in Bushehr, South of Iran

Hepat Mon. 2015 Nov 28;15(11):e29219. doi: 10.5812/hepatmon.29219. eCollection 2015 Nov.

Authors

Behrouz Naeimi¹, Farnaz Mazloom Kalimani², Ali Akbar Pourfatolah³, Masoud Azimzadeh², Alireza Mankhian⁴, Samad Akbarzadeh⁵, Gholamreza Hajiani⁴, Faramarz Kooshesh⁶, Gholamreza Khamisipour⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran; The Persian Gulf Tropical Medicine Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
² Student Research Committee, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
³ Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IR Iran.
⁴ Bushehr Blood Transfusion Organization, Bushehr, IR Iran.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
⁶ Department of Surgical Technology, Faculty of Allied Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
⁷ The Persian Gulf Tropical Medicine Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran; Department of Hematology, Faculty of Allied Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.

Abstract

Background: Although so far several studies have determined the hepatitis E virus (HEV) prevalence in some parts of Iran, no data exists regarding the HEV seroprevalence in Bushehr province as the southernmost point in Iran yet.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgG among the blood donors in Bushehr.

Patients and methods: A total of 628 blood donor samples were collected from September to October 2013, after obtaining informed written consents, and analyzed for the presence of anti-HEV IgG using commercial HEV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. All the samples were tested by two ELISA kits and evaluated for liver function test.

Results: Overall, 105 (16.7%) blood samples were positive for HEV-specific-IgG antibodies, while 523 (83.8%) were negative. The presence of anti-HEV IgG was not associated with gender; however, it was correlated with age. It was indicated that the anti-HEV prevalence increases by age and there was a significant difference between the age groups regarding HEV seropositivity.

Conclusions: High HEV seroprevalence (16.7%) was observed among the blood donors in Bushehr province. It appears that exposure to HEV increases with age; although, more people should be examined.

Keywords: Blood Donors; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Hepatitis E Virus; Iran; Seroepidemiological Studies.