Hepatitis E Virus Seroprevalence Among Blood Donors in Bushehr, South of Iran

Background: although so far several studies have determined the hepatitis e virus (hev) prevalence in some parts of iran, no data exists regarding the hev seroprevalence in bushehr province as the southernmost point in iran yet. objectives: the aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of anti-hev igg among the blood donors in bushehr. patients and methods: a total of 628 blood donor samples were collected from september to october 2013, after obtaining informed written consents, and analyzed for the presence of anti-hev igg using commercial hev enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) kit. all the samples were tested by two elisa kits and evaluated for liver function test. results: overall, 105 (16.7%) blood samples were positive for hev-specific-igg antibodies, while 523 (83.8%) were negative. the presence of anti-hev igg was not associated with gender; however, it was correlated with age. it was indicated that the anti-hev prevalence increases by age and there was a significant difference between the age groups regarding hev seropositivity. conclusions: high hev seroprevalence (16.7%) was observed among the blood donors in bushehr province. it appears that exposure to hev increases with age; although, more people should be examined.