Hepatitis B Core Antibody Immunoglobulin M in Blood Donors With a History of Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B is still an issue after blood transfusion. A reason could be the window period of hepatitis B infection in blood donors. In countries such as Iran hepatitis B surface antigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the only test to detect the virus in blood donors. This procedure may miss the window period of hepatitis B infected donors. Objectives: The current study aimed to look for hepatitis B core antibody immunoglobulin M in blood samples of Iranian donors with a history of hepatitis B virus infection to detect window period infection. Materials and Methods: Eighty serum samples with hepatitis B core antibody were collected from 1000 healthy blood donors, forty of them had been positive for hepatitis B virus DNA in authors’ previous study and were diagnosed as occult hepatitis B infection. All 80 samples were tested for hepatitis B core immunoglobulin M. Results: One thousand blood samples were collected from 64 (6.4%) female and 936 (93.6%) male subjects. None of the blood samples contained hepatitis B core immunoglobulin M. The study found no significant differences between male and female subjects in term of HBcAb positivity. Conclusions: Hepatitis B core antibody immunoglobulin M positivity is different in healthy blood donors of different countries according to the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B and its vaccination. Based on the current study findings, all positive samples of hepatitis B core antibody in Iranian blood banks should be considered as candidates for occult hepatitis B not just the window period infected samples.