Background and objective: Hepatitis E infection is a self-limited acute viral hepatitis that occurs frequently in epidemic outbreaks in the world. HEV is transmitted predominantly by the fecal-oral route. Although they have only minor contribution other routes of transmission cannot be ruled out, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG in blood donors in Ahvaz city.
Material and methods: We investigated serum samples of 200 blood donors (130 male, 70 female) for IgG calss antibodies to HEV (anti-HEV). A specific solid-phase enzyme linked immunoassay (Biokit HEVEIA) was used.
Results: of 200 blood donors 23 cases of anti-HEV IgG [19 male (14.6%), 4 female (5.7%)] were found, representing a prevalence rate of 11.5% there was no significant correlation among anti-HEV frequency and gender or age.
Conclusion: this study is the first reports concerning seroprevalence of HEV infection among blood donors in Ahvaz city and demon estate the high seroprevalence rate of anti-HEV IgG among blood donors in this area