Background and objectives: Data on the seroprevalence of viral hepatitis are limited in Haiti; consequently, the epidemiology is poorly described. This study aims to provide a descriptive analysis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroprevalence of blood donations in Haiti.
Materials and methods: Using Haiti's National Blood Safety Program and Haitian Red Cross reports from 2005 to 2014, we analysed the results of screening tests of donor serum samples to assess HBV and HCV seroprevalence among adults aged 17 to 65 years.
Results: A total of 198 758 donor samples were screened from 2005 to 2014, of which 0·56% were positive for antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) and 3·80% were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen. Over the 10-year study period, anti-HCV seroprevalence among blood donors increased by 31% from 0.66% to 0.86% (95% CI: 1·01-1·70); however, this trend was not uniform over time, with a significant decrease from 0·66% in 2005 to 0·39% in 2009 (95% CI: 0·43- 0·82) and 0·43% in 2012 (95% CI: 0·50-0·90). Conversely, HBV decreased significantly by 13% from 3·95% in 2005 to 3·42% in 2014 (95% CI: 0·77-0·97), a trend that was also observed in 2012 and 2013.
Conclusion: The significant, uniform decrease in HBV seroprevalence in more recent years may represent the positive impact of public health interventions in preventing the transmission of blood-borne infections. More research is needed to understand why the trends in HCV transmission are non-uniform and to investigate the significant increase in more recent years.
Keywords: Haiti; donors; epidemiology; transfusion–transmissible infections.