Introduction: Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a double-stranded circular DNA virus, it is one of the major blood transmissible infections. The prevalence of HBV is highest in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, where 5-20% of the adult population are infected. In Africa, up to 15 to 60% of the population are positive for at least one of the serological markers of HBV. This study aimed to determine the prevalence markers of HBV among prospective blood donors in Sokoto.

Materials/methods: About 170 blood donors were randomly recruited into this research study and 5ml of blood was aseptically collected from each of the research participants, the sample was screened for Hepatitis B virus, using a rapid step-wise HBV-5 panel immunoassay of Combo Cassette Manufactured by Lusys Laboratories Inc U.S.A. The HBV-5 is capable of detecting HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBeAb and HBcAb simultaneously. The test component was opened from the notch, and the device was removed, 2-3 drops (60-90µl) plasma sample was added into the sample wells in the device. The result was read within 15 minutes.

Results: The prevalence rates of the markers are HBsAg 8(4.7%), HBeAg 1(0.6%), HBsAb 7(4.1%), HbeAb 8(4.7%), and HBcAb 9(5.3%). Donors aged (20-30) years had the highest prevalence rate of HBV infection compared to other age groups. Male blood donors had higher seropositivity for the five markers than their female counterpart. The prevalence of HBV markers was high among the First time donors (non-vaccinated donors) who have a higher prevalence than other donors (vaccinated donors).

Conclusion: This study has shown that screening for HBsAg alone may not be sufficient for the diagnosis of hepatitis B virus infection, and thus other markers should be included in the routine screening.