Seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 in blood donors at the Kitwe Central Hospital, Blood Bank, Kitwe, Zambia

Abstract

Human Parvovirus (B19V) is a small, single-stranded, non-enveloped DNA virus which is pathogenic to humans causing a wide array of clinical complications which include erythema infectiosum, aplastic crisis and hydrops foetalis. It is generally harmless in healthy individuals but may be life threatening in immunocompromised individuals such as patients with sickle cell disease and pregnant women. It has been shown to be transmissible by blood transfusion but donor screening for the virus is not yet mandatory in most sub-saharan African countries including Zambia. This was a cross sectional study which aimed to determine the seroprevalence of Parvovirus B19 infections among healthy blood donors at the Kitwe Central Hospital, Blood Bank. The specific objectives were to detect Parvovirus B19 IgM antibodies in donor blood using serology and to analyse the age and sex distribution of parvovirus among blood donors. The net prevalence of parvovirus B19 IgM in this study was 15.6%. The majority of the positive cases were in the age group 15-22 years(17.8%) but there was no statistical significance between occurrence of parvovirus and age (p value=0.756). Prevalence in males was higher than in females i.e. 16.4% and 13.8%, respectively. The relationship between gender and parvovirus B19 occurrence was however not significant either (p value=0.646).