Frequency of hepatitis C virus antibodies and elevated serum alanine transaminase levels in Ghanaian blood donors.

The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) positivity in blood donors and investigate the possibility of using serum alanine transaminase (ALT) elevation as a surrogate marker. Blood samples from 1300 healthy blood donors were screened for HCV antibodies by an ELISA technique. The serum ALT was also assayed in 725 of them. 68 (5.2%) were positive for HCV antibodies. In the ALT assay 23 (3.2%) had elevated values and only 13 of this number had ALT values of 80 I.U and above. Only two positive HCV donors had elevated serum ALT. It is concluded that 5.2 per cent of blood donors had HCV antibodies and ALT assay cannot be used as a surrogate marker.