M. Abdelaal et al., EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HEPATITIS-E VIRUS IN MALE BLOOD-DONORS IN JEDDAH, SAUDI-ARABIA, Irish journal of medical science, 167(2), 1998, pp. 94-96
To our knowledge, only a few epidemiological reports on the prevalence
of hepatitis E antibodies in Saudi blood donors have been published.
Men of several nationalities, donating blood at King Khalid National G
uard Hospital (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) were selected (n = 593) for this
study examining the seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in the l
ocal male donor population and testing the relationship of the antibod
y to HEV (anti-HEV) to donor characteristics using Odds Ratio (OR) and
Chi-square statistic. The prevalence of anti-HEV in the group examine
d was 16.9 per cent (100/593), The seroprevalence for Saudi donors was
14.8 per cent compared with 33.3 per cent for non-Saudis of Middle Ea
stern origin, Donors who were 40 yr and over had significantly higher
seroprevalence than those donors who were 30 yr or younger (OR =2.5, p
= 0.006). There was a significant association between anti-HEV and an
ti-HCV with donors who were positive to anti-HCV having about 5 times
the risk of HEV than those who were anti-HCV negative (p = 0.02). Thes
e findings demonstrate the high seroprevalence rate of anti-HEV among
male blood donors in Saudi Arabia.