Prevalence of viral and non-viral hepatitis in Menoua Division, West Region, Cameroon: a retrospective hospital-based study

Abstract

Introduction The paucity of data on hepatitis' epidemiology in Menoua Division, west region, Cameroon, prompted us to assess the prevalence of viral and non-viral hepatitis in this area. Methods A retrospective exhaustive study based on records of patients from January 2008 to June 2014 was conducted in 9 health centres in Menoua Division. Targeted subjects were patients who did not receive hepatitis vaccines for the past year and have been screened for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and/or a blood transaminase. Associations between variables were quantified with odd ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Cochran-Armitage test of linear trend was used for testing proportions of ordinal variables. Fisher's exact test was used for testing the association between 2 qualitative variables when expected counts were less than 5. Results The overall prevalence were 9.6% and 6.7% for HBV and HCV respectively. HBV mostly infected people aged 21-30 (12.4%) while the prevalence of HCV increased with age up to 35.4% (p=0.03). A 0.6% co-infection was observed. Thirty percent of positive HBV or HCV had high transaminase while 13% of patients with elevated transaminase showed negative viral serology. Conclusion These results show that hospital-based prevalence of HCV and HBV in Menoua Division is under the Cameroon's national range but point out the fact that non-viral hepatitis might be a serious case of concern in this area. There is therefore, a need to identify the risk-factors of non-viral hepatitis.

Burden of vaccine-preventable diseases, trends in vaccine coverage and current challenges in the implementation of the expanded program on immunization: A situation analysis of Cameroon

“…The highest prevalence of HBV was 13% in 2011 in the Menoua division of the western region, followed by 13% and 11% reported in 2012 and 2014, respectively. 37,43 The prevalence of HBV increased linearly between 2008 and 2014. 43 This is not surprising given that the vaccine coverage has equally been fluctuating between 79% and 89% within the same period, and currently stands at 79% nationwide.…”

“…43 This is not surprising given that the vaccine coverage has equally been fluctuating between 79% and 89% within the same period, and currently stands at 79% nationwide. 22,43 This of course underscores the huge discrepancies between regions which as observed for MCV and PCV-13, is lowest in the northern and southern regions of the country, clearly reflecting the high (greater than 15%) HBV seroprevalence reported in the Far-North, North and South regions compared to the 8% to 15%; in the Center, East and South-West regions and the less than 8%; in the Littoral, North-West and West regions. 37 Foreseeably, a recent study reported very poor vaccine uptake in HBV high-risk groups including HCWs, household and sexual contacts to chronically infected HBV individuals.…”