Donor screening for antibody to hepatitis B core antigen and hepatitis B virus infection in transfusion recipients

Abstract

Some 33 to 50 percent of cases of hepatitis B that could be transmitted by transfusion of blood from HBsAg-negative donors are prevented by anti-HBc screening. Anti-HBc-positive donors unequivocally positive for anti-HBs should be considered noninfectious for HBV and should be allowed to donate. Anti-HBc screening of paid plasmapheresis donors, supplemented by anti-HBs testing, would reduce the amount of HBV to be processed by virus inactivation and increase the content of anti-HBs in plasma pools.

Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen in blood donors in the middle west region of Brazil

“…The elevated concomitant positivity for anti-HBc and anti-HBs was previously reported by Burrel (1980), Gonçales Júnior et al (1993), Barbara (1994) and Mosley et al (1995). These findings indicates a previous infection and immunity to HBV, although the degree of protection depends on the anti-HBs levels.…”

“…We found a low rate (1.9%) of anti-HBc among blood donors anti-HCV positive and Vasconcelos et al (1994) found (2.7%).The importance of anti-HBc as an alternative HCV marker has been questioned following the introduction of sensitive HCV tests for the screening of donors (Barbara 1994, Dodd 1995. However, it has been reported that anti-HBc screening can eventually prevent some HCV cases in high HBV prevalence areas (Mosley et al 1995). Jilg et al (1995) studying isolated anti-HBc individuals, found anti-HCV antibodies in 40.5%, of which 2/3 were HCV-RNA positive.…”

“…Even so, the presence of antiHBc antibodies can be considered as an indicator of the risk for other parenterally transmitted viruses such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It can also help to prevent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection transmitted by some HBsAg negative donors (Mosley et al 1995).…”

“…In low prevalence areas for HBV, the occurrence of isolated anti-HBc practically exempts the possibility of PTH (Scully et al 1994, Mosley et al 1995. In contrast, in high endemicity areas, anti-HBc as the sole HBV marker has been associated with the presence of HBV-DNA detected using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (Luo et al 1991, Wang et al 1991, Nandi & Banerjee 1992, Chung et al 1993, Sánchez-Quijano et al 1993.…”

The Role of Hepatitis B Core Antibody Testing in Improving Blood Safety in Resource-Limited Countries Study on Voluntary Blood Donors Fayoum, Egypt

“…The infectivity of blood donations containing anti-HBc as the only marker of HBV infection has been known for several decades and indicated that no more than 4% of recipients of anti-HBc-only blood developed HBV infection post-transfusion [31]. However, Mosley reported 17% infectivity of antiHBc-only blood products [22,32]. Anti-HBc screening has the potential of excluding the vast majority of occult HBV infection but this exclusion of anti-HBc positive donors is impractical in countries where HBV infection is prevalent and higher than 20% of the populations are anti-HBc positive [33].…”