Sero-detection of Cytomegalovirus Antibodies among Blood Donors in Khartoum State

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) IgG antibodies using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), among 75 blood donors and 40 apparently healthy individuals as control group with ages ranging from 18-52 years. The blood samples were, aseptically, collected from 75 blood donor volunteers attending the blood bank of Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman Chinese–Friendship Teaching Hospitals and 40 normal individuals. While 73 blood donors have been found positive (97.3%) for anti-CMV IgG, 39 subjects were positive (97.5%) among the control group. All of the possible risk factors have been examined in this study, i.e. age, sex, marital status, major blood groups and previous blood transfusions had no significant effect (P>0.05) on CMV IgG antibodies among both the blood donors and the control group. The results of this study have strongly been in line with the previous findings that CMV is one of the most commonly prevalent viral infections in Sudan (80-100%). Although primary CMV infection among normal immunocompetant individuals is not one of the clinically serious viral infections in Sudan, further in-depth studies are needed to elucidate this disease, because of its serious complications (e.g. abortions and congenital defects) among the immunocompromised persons (AIDS, hemodialysis and transplant recipient patients). Furthermore, we strongly recommend the screening of blood for CMV antibodies among blood and organ transplant donors.