Prevalence of HBsAg, knowledge, and vaccination practice against viral hepatitis B infection among doctors and nurses in a secondary health care facility in Lagos state, South-western Nigeria

Abstract

IntroductionHepatitis B Virus, a highly infectious blood-borne virus poses a major threat to public health globally due to its high prevalence rate and grave consequence in causing liver cirrhosis and hepatocelullar carcinoma, the third cause of cancer death worldwide. The aim is determine the prevalence of HBsAg, knowledge, and vaccination practices against viral hepatitis B infection among doctors and nurses in a health care facility.MethodsStudy design was a descriptive cross-sectional study among all the doctors and nurses in the health care facility. Data was collected using pre-tested, structured, self-administered questionnaire and blood samples were taken from respondents and tested using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA) test kit to determine prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen after informed consent. Ethical approval was obtained from Health Research and Ethics Committee of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Responses of the respondents to the knowledge and vaccination practices against viral hepatitis B infection were scored and graded as poor (<50%), fair (50-74%) and good (≥75%). The study was carried out in January, 2014.ResultsA total of 134 out of the 143 recruited respondents participated in the study. Prevalence of HBsAg was 1.5%. Among the respondents, 56.7% had good knowledge and 94.8% reported poor practice of vaccination against viral hepatitis B infection. Mean knowledge and vaccination practices scores (%) were 72.54+7.60 and 29.44+14.37 respectively. Only 29% of the respondents did post vaccination testing for anti HBsAg.ConclusionPrevalence of HBsAg was low. Knowledge of viral hepatitis B was fair, and practice of post hepatitis B vaccination testing was poor. It is therefore recommended that the state ministry of health should organise further health education programme, institute compulsory occupational hepatitis B vaccination programme and post vaccination anti-HBS testing to ensure adequate antibody level in this adult population.

Seroprevalence and Knowledge of Hepatitis B Virus Infection Among Laboratory Workers at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi, Tanzania

“…The questionnaire given to participants assessed their knowledge of HBV infection and vaccination, scores were grouped into low (<50%), moderate (50%-74%), and high (≥75%) categories (Table 1). 17 Knowledge about HBV infection and vaccination was higher among men compared to women. Knowledge was higher among medical personnel and very low among non-medical personnelabout 5 (50%) of all non-medical personnel had low knowledge about HBV infection and vaccination, as compared to 8 (12%) of medical personnel (Table 1).…”

“…In this study, potential risk exposures among HCWs, as a whole, might be among the predisposition to occupational accidents, as reported in other studies. [16][17][18][19] However, of the 5 IT specialists in our study, 2 were infected with HBV. This could be explained by the fact that they receive and enter blood sample information into the laboratory information system, which exposes them to the blood products.…”

Awareness and Practice of Vaccination of Chronic Hemodialysis Patients by Specialist Nephrology Practitioners in Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Survey

“…However, some related research efforts reveal varying outcomes. Adekanle et al [11] showed that among the healthcare personnel whose knowledge of HBV was surveyed, only doctors had a good knowledge, whereas Abiola et al [12] showed fair knowledge but poor practice among nurses and doctors in an urban hospital in Lagos State, Nigeria.…”

Healthcare professionals' level of medication knowledge in Africa: a systematic review

“…The main finding in these papers was that PEP was underused, and it was speculated that this was partly due to the low level of PEP-related knowledge. Forty-eight questions were about different types of vaccines; 23 on hepatitis B [39][40][41][42][43], eight on human papilloma virus [44][45][46], three on influenza [47,48] viruses, and 14 questions on adverse events following immunization [49]. Questions were about overall awareness of different types of vaccines, and the effectiveness, what comprised a dose/full course, how long the vaccines offered protection, and about the safety of vaccination, adverse reactions after immunization, and medication used to prevent/relieve vaccinationrelated immune reaction.…”