ISSN: 2639-2038
Authors: Tella EE, Attah AA, Al Mustapha FY, Danjuma ED and Oti VB*
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is known as one of the most important public health challenges these days in Nigeria. The viral infection makes up of infectious hazards due to its risk of transmission. There is needed to keep updating the knowledge of the prevalence of HBV infection in Nasarawa state, Nigeria. Based on these premises, this study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of HBV infection among patients attending General Hospital Doma, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. This was a crosssectional study carried out over a three months period. A total of 247 patients attending the hospital were consecutively recruited for the study. Information on demographics and risk factors were obtained with a self-administered questionnaire. Rapid diagnostic test kits (ASPEN Laboratory Inc, USA) were used to detect the presence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). An overall prevalence of HBV infection was 17.0%. HBsAg seropositivity was more in females than males (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the infection was highest among those aged 11-19 years (34.6%) and lowest among those aged 30-39 years old (11.5%). In this study, marital status, occupation, history of blood transfusion, history of HBV vaccine and scarification marks had no statistically significant association with HBV infection (p > 0.05). Although, history of blood transfusion, lack of HBV vaccination and absence of scarification marks are strong predictors in the study. This study confirmed a high endemicity of HBsAg among patients in the area. It is therefore recommended that immunization and awareness programs that mitigate the transmissibility and clinical consequences of the viral pathogen in infected patients should be advocated.
Keywords: Prevalence; HBsAg; HBV; Patients; Doma; Nigeria
