The impact of positive anti-hbc marker on permanent deferral of voluntary blood donors in eastern croatia and estimation of occult hepatitis b virus infection rate.

THE IMPACT OF POSITIVE ANTI-HBC MARKER ON PERMANENT DEFERRAL OF VOLUNTARY BLOOD DONORS IN EASTERN CROATIA AND ESTIMATION OF OCCULT HEPATITIS B VIRUS INFECTION RATE. Acta Clin Croat. 2020 Mar;59(1):126-134 Authors: Samardžija M, Drenjančević D, Miletić M, Slavulj B, Jukić I, Zibar L, Mihaljević S, Ferenac Kiš M, Samardžija M Abstract Recently an increase has been reported in the number of HBV transmissions from anti-HBc positive blood donors that were repeatedly negative in HBsAg and nucleic acid testing using the most sensitive tests available. The aim of the study was to show the effect of anti-HBc antibody testing performed in 2006 on permanent deferral of voluntary blood donors (VBDs), and to estimate occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) rate in this population after the introduction of mandatory molecular testing in the 2013-2016 period. More than 30,000 blood donations collected during the 2005-2007 period and more than 14,000 VBDs having donated blood during the 2013-2016 period after the introduction of molecular testing from eastern Croatia were included in the study. Serologic testing was performed with HBsAg assay throughout the study period, and anti-HBc assay was only performed in 2006. As part of the confirmatory algorithm testing, all HBsAg positive and unclear results were tested with molecular tests. Anti-HBc prevalence among VBDs in 2006 was 1.5%, with a rate of 1:197, whereas HBsAg prevalence was stable from 2...
Source: Acta Clinica Croatica - Category: General Medicine Tags: Acta Clin Croat Source Type: research