Study of Seroprevalence of Hepatites "B" and "C" Markers in Blood Donors from Hemonorte, Rio Grande Do Norte/ Brazil

Viral hepatitis transmissible by blood more frequent in the Brazilian population are those of type B and C. Blood banks and hemotherapy centers (Hemocenters) must carry out serological screening, in order to statistically evaluate the percentage of infected donors the virus of these hepatitis. This study aimed to characterize the blood donor population of the State of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), located in the Northeast region of Brazil, in relation to serological markers of hepatitis B and C and to compare these donors from different regions of RN. Were performed serological tests from 254.332 blood donations at the Laboratory of Serology of Hemocenters of Rio Grande do Norte (HEMONORTE) by indirect ELISA methodology. The state of RN was divided into three regions according to the presence of transfusion units or Hemocenters in: Natal city, capital of the state of RN and nearby cities and also headquarters of HEMONORTE; Western Region comprising the Hemocenter of Mossoró city and and transfusion unit of Pau dos Ferros city; and the Serido region of the hemocenter of Caicó city and the collection and transfusion unit of the Currais Novos city. The markers used for hepatitis B detection were total anti HBc (IgM and IgG) and HBsAg. The research of the virus Hepatite C virus carried out with those with third generation kits containing core proteins NS3 and NS4, in addition to NS5. The samples were considered reactive (seropositive) when optical density was obtained up to 20% below the cut-off value, which is the criterion used by most blood centers in Brazil. Among the various serological markers of hepatitis B and C, anti-HBc was the most prevalent with a percentage of 0.98%. Anti-HCV presented a prevalence of 0.77%, while HBsAg had a low prevalence (0.07%). When comparing the prevalence by region, we found that the Natal city region had the lowest rates of hepatitis B (0.93%) and hepatitis C (0.71%). The western region presented the highest percentages of reactivity for hepatitis B (1.24%) and C (1.16%). The seridó region of obtained a prevalence of hepatitis markers smaller than the western region and larger than that of the , 0.99% for hepatitis B and 0.91% for hepatitis C. This difference of percentages between regions should be investigated , to find out the reason for this prevalence variation. The strategy of clinical recruitment and screening should be reassessed and unified among hemotherapy services in Rio Grande do Norte.