Hepatitis-B surface antigen and VDRL in healthy blood donors of Brunei Darussalam.

We screened 3276 voluntary blood donors for Hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAg) and VDRL. The results were analysed to assess the prevalence and the possible relation to age, sex, race and blood group. Our present study was done in Belait District of Brunei Darussalam where we have a mixed population of various racial groups namely Malays, Chinese, Ibans, Dusuns, Kelabits, Kadazans, Nepalese, Filipinos, Thais, Koreans, Eurasians, Indians, British, Dutch, Americans, Africans and Australians. Our findings suggest that the prevalence of HBsAg is 4.71% and that of VDRL is 0.64% of the donor population. HBsAg positivity rate among various blood groups is found to be not statistically significant (p greater than 0.05). However, this rate is found to be highly significant among racial groups (p less than 0.001) and the rate of positivity of VDRL is also found to be significantly different among racial groups (p less than 0.01), with the highest percentage of both being in the Ibans.