Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus: a study of male blood donors in Saudi Arabia

Background: Few epidemiologic reports on the prevalence of hepatitis C in Saudi blood donors have been published. Study Design and Methods: Men (of several nationalities) donating blood at the King Khalid National Guard Hospital (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) were randomly selected (n = 744) for this study examining the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the local donor population, the relationship of antibody to HCV (anti-HCV) to the surrogate markers alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc), and the effect of the use of these markers on the discard rate. Results: The prevalence of anti-HCV in the group examined was 3.2 percent (24/744), with a significantly high prevalence of 24.5 percent (12/49) in donors who were Egyptian (p 65 U/L (p 90 U/L) and anti-HBc as surrogate markers would increase the current discard rate (8.3%) by 2.8 and 23.8 percent, respectively. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the practical difficulties of using anti-HBc as a surrogate marker for hepatitis C in areas endemic for hepatitis B virus.