Seroprevalence of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Amongst Voluntary Blood Donors in University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Edo State, Nigeria

Aim: To investigate the seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) among voluntary blood donors in University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Nigeria with the purpose of determining whether routine CMV screening for donors is justified or not.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Haematology and Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin city, Nigeria, between May and September, 2010.
Methodology: Sera from randomly selected one hundred and ninety-two (192) voluntary blood donors, consisting of 176 males and 16 females that visited the hospital from May to September 2010 were evaluated for CMV-IgG and IgM antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based kit.
Results: Seroprevalence for CMV-IgG and IgM were 95.8% and 3.1% respectively. All female donors (n=16) were positive for IgG. A total of 114 out of 192 (59.4%) donors were within the age bracket of 30-39 years. A prevalence of 100% for CMV IgG antibody was observed in age group ≥50 years,
Conclusion: Routine screening of donors for CMV-IgG antibody would amount to waste of resources given the high prevalence of 95.8%. Periodic screening to identify the small percentage of seronegative blood donors (4.2%) who are needed for the ever increasing number of immunosuppressed recipients is recommended.