Prevalence of Abnormal Hemoglobin in Gendarmerie Barracks in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire

In Ivory Coast, Sickle cell disease is a public health problem. Approximately, there are 98,000 blood donors annually to the national blood transfusion center. Among these, some holders of abnormal hemoglobins are often diagnosed. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of abnormal hemoglobins during a mass balance for the integration into an army corps those are asymptomatic blood donors. This prospective and descriptive study took place in a gendarmerie barracks in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, from October 01, 2011 to December 31, 2011. All candidates for inclusion in the corps army, aged 18 to 25 years, ivorian, from all regions of the Ivory Coast, were included in the study.EDTA tubes for Celluloseacetate electrophoresisat alkaline pHandblood count and dry tube for biochemical and virological testswere taken during donations. A total of 9526 were enrolled in this study. The median age of our patients with abnormal hemoglobins was 23 years with extremes of 18 and 25. The overall prevalence of abnormal hemoglobins was 15.07%. The prevalence was 9.54%, forHbS5,6 % for HbC and 0.052% for beta-thalassemia profile.The heterozygous AS (61.56%) and AC (35.38%), predominated. We noted 25 cases of sickle cell disease, including 14 major cases (0.97%) of homozygous SS and 11 cases (0.77%) of double heterozygous SC. We also noted 14 cases (0.97%) for CC homozygotes. The beta-thalassemia profile was weakly present in 0.35%.This study ofasymptomatic adults population, confirmed the high prevalence of HbS in Ivory Coast and the lack of a national program to fight against sickle cell disease. This should motivate the introduction of screening for abnormal hemoglobins to all the blood donors in Cote d’Ivoire