Resumen

MENENDEZ LOPEZ, José R.; DUARDO CASTELLON, Fragata Lay  y  INFANTE VELAZQUEZ, Mirtha. Markers against hepatitis B and C viruses in a population of voluntary blood donors. Rev Cub Med Mil [online]. 2004, vol.33, n.3. ISSN 0138-6557.

A retrospective study on the presence of markers against hepatitis B andC virus was conducted in 34 711 voluntary blood donations made at the Blood Bank of "Dr. Luis Díaz Soto" Military Central Hospital between 1995 and 2000. 524 (1.5 %) of them proved to be positive for the studied tests: 230 samples (0.66 %) were positive for HbsAg. 287 (0.82 %) for anti-HCV and in 7 (0.02 %) it was detected the presence of both viral markers. More cases with anti-HCV than with positive HbsAg (p < 0.001) were diagnosed. There was a trend towards the reduction of the total of seropositives to virus B and a mild increase to anti-HCV. 57 seropositve samples (25 HbsAg, 31 anti-HCV and 1 with both markers) corresponded to military men of different ranks. The greatest number of cases wad found between 21 and 40 years old and with blood groups O+, A+ and B+. It was concluded that the selection of donors is an important way to avoid the spreading of an infection by such agents, and that it also allow to identify a number of cases that do not manifest clinically, but that may become a source of infection of this disease and provoke a reduction of the fighting capacity in case of significant outbreaks.

Palabras clave : Hepatitis B; hepatitis C, donors.