Onuigwe F

The aim of this study was to determine the ABO and Rhesus D Blood group and CMV Status of blood donors in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. Two hundred and ninety (290) consecutively –recruited blood donors, consisting of 287 males and 3 females aged 19 – 55 years with mean age 39 ± 21 years were screened for their ABO and Rh D blood group and CMV antibodies status using the Lorne Laboratories (UK) antisera and CTK Biotech (U.S.A.) Onsite CMV IgG/IgM Duo rapid test for CMV-IgG and IgM detection. The result shows that 57.9% of the donors were CMV positive for IgM only, 3.1% were positive for both IgM and IgG and 4.82% were positive for IgG only while the remaining 34.18% were negative. The prevalence of CMV positivity was higher among blood group O donors (30.7%) compared to blood group A (16.2%), B (15.5%) and AB (0.34%). CMV positivity was higher among blood donors  in the 25-29 years age group (16.6%) compared to those in the 19-24 years (16.2%), 30-35 years (12.1%), 36-40 years (10.3%), 41-45 years (8.7%), 46- 50 years (1.40%) and 51-55 years age group (0.70%). This present study indicates mild endemicity of CMV infection among blood donors in Sokoto, Nigeria. There is need to routinely screen blood donors for CMV particularly for donor units intended for use in neonates, pregnant women, AIDS patients, immunosuppressed and transplant patients. The use of leucocyte- rich whole blood transfusion should be discouraged in Nigeria. Effort should be made to implement universal leucodepletion of donated units. There is also the need to educate clinical staff to ensure that CMV negative units are requested for patients in whom CMV negative units are indicated.

The Rhesus blood group system is second to the ABO blood group system among the clinically significant red cell antigens. The Rhesus blood group system has been incriminated  in cases of haemolytic transfusion reaction and haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn. In this present study, we investigated 155 pregnant women aged 18 to 45 years and mean age 27.19 ± 4.70 attending antenatal clinic in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital  Sokoto for their Rhesus E phenotype using Lorne Laboratories (United Kingdom) anti-E reagent. Out of the 155 pregnant women tested, 44(28.4%) were positive for Rh (E) whereas 111(71.6%) tested negative. Subjects were classified based on ethnicity. Pregnant women of Hausa ethnic group was found to have the highest frequency (60.6%), followed by Fulani (12.3%), Igbo (11.6%), others (9.7%) and Yoruba (5.8%).  Subjects were stratified based on age groups. The age range of 26-35yrs was found to have the highest frequency 76 (49%), followed by 15-25 yrs 70 (45.2%) and 36-45yrs 9 (5.8%). Subjects were also categorized based on their educational status. Subjects that attended tertiary institutions had the highest frequency 42.6%, followed by secondary 31.6%, primary 21.9% and non formal 3.9%. We recommend that all pregnant women be routinely tested for clinically significant red cell antigen including Rhesus E during pregnancy. Pregnant women who are Rh E negative who require a transfusion should be transfused with Rh E negative red cells to prevent alloimmunization and HDFN in future pregnancies. Pregnant women should be tested routinely for the presence of clinically significant alloantibodies. Those positive for alloantibodies should be transfused with red cells that are negative for antigens to which the antibody is specific.