203 The Journal of Medical Research 2017; 3(4): 203-207 Research Article JMR 2017; 3(4): 203-207 July- August ISSN: 2395-7565 © 2017, All rights reserved www.medicinearticle.com Received: 30-06-2017 Accepted: 30-07-2017 *Corresponding author: Dr. SO John-Olabode Department of Haematology and Blood transfusion, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria Email: sarahajibola[at]yahoo.com Seroprevalence of anti- HEV among blood Donors in Lagos, Nigeria– A Pilot Study SO John-Olabode 1 , O Ajie 2 , V Osunkalu 1 , A Akinbami 3 , K. Aile 3 1 Department of Haematology and Blood transfusion, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria 2 Department of Clinical Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria 3 Department of Haematology and Blood transfusion, Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Lagos, Nigeria Abstract Background: Hepatitis E is a common infection in developing countries like Nigeria because of poor sanitation and weak public health facilities. Presently, in Nigeria the mandatory infectious disease screening test for voluntary blood donors does not include HEV, with the emerging evidence of the transfusion transmissibility of HEV because potentially infected donors may never have shown clinical signs and considering the fact that HEV cannot be fully inactivated in blood-derived products, this virus has recently emerged as a transfusion-transmitted pathogen of concern and a potential threat to transfusion safety. To establish whether HEV may be a risk to transfusion safety and, more in general, a problem for public health, the first step is to assess its real Seroprevalence in blood donors and the general population. Aim: To characterize the seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgM and IgG in blood donors in Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Sera from 151 donors were screened for anti-HEV IgM and IgG by enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data were expressed as the mean ± standard deviation and all statistical analysis was performed using SPSS ver¬sion 23.0 statistical software (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) where P-value of 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results: In this study 151 blood donors were enrolled, overall seroprevalence for HEV of 6.6% was determined. HEV IgG had a significant prevalence of 5.3% as against HEV IgM 1.3% (P = 0.00). Higher prevalence was found among males compared to females. A higher HEV detection rate was observed in the younger age group with 80% (8/10) of the anti-HEV positive donors aged 20 – 40 years old (P = 0.9). In this study, no significant association was observed (p > 0.05) between seropositivity and the risk factors associated with HEV infection. Conclusions: This pilot study of HEV seroprevalence in blood donors in Lagos, South-west Nigeria has revealed that though low the potential for HEV contamination in the blood supply to recipients does exist. However as the presence of HEV RNA was not examined in this study, no conclusive data can be generated on active HEV prevalence in blood donors. Further studies will be needed in determining active HEV prevalence in blood donors so as to determine if HEV screening will be necessary and cost effective on a larger scale to reduce the risk of on-going infection to a vulnerable population in Nigeria. Keywords: Prevalence, Blood transfusion, Hepatitis E Virus, Nigeria. INTRODUCTION Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) is a small, spherical, non-enveloped, single stranded RNA virus. Originally recognized as a member of the genus Calcivirus, of the Calciviridae family but recently reclassified into the Hepeviridae family in the Hepesvirus genus [1, 2] . Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) infectionis responsible for over 50% of cases of enterically transmitted acute viral hepatitis in endemic countries [3, 4] and Africa is among the most severely affected regions in the world because of poor sanitation and weak public health facilities. Traditionally, HEV has been known to cause self-limited acute infection in humans, but new reports show evidence that HEV infection can result in significant morbidity and mortality in certain high risk group with compromised immune systems. These include patients with pre-existing liver disease (where HEV infection can result in death with mortality rate can be as high as 60%, or evolve to a chronic state), immunocompromised subjects [5, 6] and transplant recipients [7] . Another characteristic clinical feature of HEV is its high frequency and severity in pregnant women in low income countries with mortality rates around 10-20 % [8, 9] particularly in the third trimester. HEV has the potential to be transmitted by the transfusion of contaminated blood since it has an asymptomatic blood borne phase and may survive in blood components during processing and storage.