Seroprevalence of Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E Viruses Among Blood Donors in North of Iran

 Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV) are both transmitted by the fecal-oral route and are known as leading causes of acute viral hepatitis in the world, especially in developing countries. There is a lack of updated data on HAV and HEV seroprevalence in the north of Iran. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HAV and HEV among blood donors in Babol, Iran.

 A cross-sectional study was performed in 2018 on 491 blood donors referred to the Babol Blood Transfusion Center. The serum samples were tested for anti-HAV and anti-HEV IgG using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

The mean age of blood donors was 40.92 ± 9.86 years. An anti-HAV antibody was found in 385 (78.4%), and an anti-HEV antibody was detected in 8 (1.6%) blood donors. The seroprevalence of HAV was a significant correlation to age, marital and educational status (P<0.001). But there was no significant correlation between anti-HEV and all of our study's information factors (P>0.05).

 This study showed that the incidence of HAV in the age group of <33 years is low, and the incidence of HEV has not changed compared to the past and HEV was lower than in other regions in Iran, and it needs more investigation in the north of Iran to obtain detailed information in anti-HEV seroprevalence.