The first research article of RMI
(02/12/2004)

The first research article of RMI was printed in the Journal of Postgraduate Medical Institute. The research was carried out by Consultant Pathologist Dr. Jawad Ahmad and co-authored by Dr. Abid Sohail Taj, Abdur Rahim, Afzal Shah and Prof. M Rehman.

The research article titled “Frequency of Hepatitis C in Healthy Blood Donors of N.W.F.P: A Single Centre Experience” was written on the basis of data collected during the year 2002-2003 from blood donors in RMI.

The original article is in the JPMI Vol 18 No 3 Page 343 – 352

ABSTRACTS:

Objectives
To determine the frequency of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in asymptomatic healthy blood donors.

Material and Methods
A prospective study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar from April 2002 to March 2003. A total of 4000 healthy blood donors were selected. Blood samples were collected for screening for HBs Ag and anti HCV antibodies using IMX or Axsym, MEIA technology (Abbott, USA).

Results
Even after strict selection of healthy donors 1.9% were found to be reactive for hepatitis B and 2.2% were found to be reactive for hepatitis C. The rate of incidence of hepatitis C was higher in blood group B negative (6.81%) while the rate of incidence of hepatitis B was higher in donors with blood group B positive (2.47%). Screened blood bags received from other transfusion centres showed higher rates (4.27%) of hepatitis viral infections.

Conclusion
These results indicate that most of the patients suffering from hepatitis B and hepatitis C do not realize that they have got such deadly viruses in their body and can transmit it to non-infected healthy individuals via different parenteral routes including blood transfusion. The rate of infection of hepatitis B and C found in this study is low compared to other regional studies. One possible explanation could be the introduction of pre-donation filtration by questionnaire method which has been found to be an effective tool in addition to routine virological screening using high quality standard methods.

Keywords
Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, transfusion, blood screening, ELISA

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