Prevalence of HBV and HCV among blood donors in Kosovo

Hepatitis is disease of the liver caused by the infectious and non-infectious agents. The aim of study was to analyze the prevalence of HBV and HCV among voluntary blood donors in Kosovo, during 2000-2003. The data from National Center for Blood Transfusion of Kosovo were collected and analyzed through descriptive and comparative epidemiological method of retrospective study. All samples were tested by ELISA test. Out of 70348 samples of the blood donors, 3145 were positive. From overall positive samples, 2939 were HBV positive, 192 HCV positive while 14 samples were positive for both viruses. The HBV prevalence among the blood donors of Kosovo is 4.2%, which range Kosovo to the second zone according to the CDC classification of the geographical spread of the HBV infection. The HCV prevalence among the blood donors in Kosovo is 0.3%. Compared to the other European countries this level of prevalence is relatively low. Age group 30-39 years old was presented with 34.8% of cases. The higher number was among the workers, 842 or 26.8%. Based on the results we can conclude that Kosovo have the similar prevalence for HBV and HCV infections as other South East European countries.