Seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus in a tertiary institution in North Western Nigeria

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of HBV infection and the possible potential risk factors among students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was conducted between April and August, 2013. Structured questionnaires were administered to obtain socio demographic data and possible risk factors that might be associated with the viral infection. Blood samples were collected at the University Health Services (UHS) from 600 consenting consecutive students aged between 16 and 40 years old. The sera were screened for HBsAg using device kit and anti-HBs, HBeAg, anti-HBe and anti-HBc using one-step cassette style diagnostic kits. Reactive sera for HBsAg were further confirmed using ELISA kits. Of the 600 students tested for HBsAg, 9.2% (55/600) tested positive among which, none had detectable anti-HBs antibodies, indicating recent infection. About 7.3, 36.4 and 94.5% were positive for HBeAg, anti-HBe and anti-HBc respectively. There was a significant association between age group, gender, family history of the students and HBV infection (P=0.016, 0.049 and 0.000, respectively). Other risk factors studied were not significantly associated with the viral infection. The seroprevalence of 9.2% for HBsAg obtained in this study indicates high endemicity according to WHO classification. Four of the students were highly infectious. The study indicates that close contact among family members and economic disadvantages of some of the students might be predisposing factors to the infection. More than half of the students were ignorant about HBV.

Prevalence of Hep Atitis B and C Virus Antibodies Among S Tudents Involved in Ris Ky S Exual B Ehavior in a Nigerian Tertiary Ins Titution .

“…Such records include prevalence of 6.0% recorded among students of the Federal university of wukari, Taraba state, Nigeria (Imaren ezor et al, 2016), 4.5% recorded among students of university of Maiduguri in Nigeria (Dawurang et al, 2012) and 12.5% reported among asymptomat ic students in Ahmadu Bello Un iversity, Zaria (A minu et al, 2013). Also, the prevalence rate of 9.5% reported in a population of students at Ladoke Akintola Un iversity of Technology in south west Nigeria (Mabayoje et al, 2010), 9.2% recorded in Ahmadu Bello university, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria (Isa et al, 2015); and 13.2% recorded in Nassarawa State Univers ity in Keffi, Nigeria (Pennap et al, 2010) for HBsAg are all lower than the prevalence rate recorded in this study for HBV antibodies. The reason is that while these researchers investigated randomly selected subjects irrespective of risk exposure, this s tudy focused only on a group of subjects with sexual risk behavior only .…”

Hepatitis B Virus Burden in Jammu (J&K): A Maiden Study

“…A sero positivity of 1.10% and 0.58% was reported amongst the hospital attendees from Warudi in Nashik, (20) and Tumkuru, South India (21) . On the contrary, in a retro-prospective study conducted at a hospital in Nepal and a tertiary care hospital at North Western Nigeria seroprevelance of 4.19% (22) and 9.2% (23) has been reported. In another pivotal study conducted at a North Indian Hospital from 2005-2013 seroprevelance was found to range from 0.92% to 1.75% (24) indicative of consistent infection.…”

Demographic Study on Hepatitis A Infections among Outpatients of Selected Hospitals within Kaduna Metropolis, Nigeria

“…Micro-Point Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit (Made in USA) was used to test for the presence of anti-HAV IgM. All results were read and interpreted according to the manufacturer's instructions [19,20]. Results were tabulated according to demographic factors as shown in Table 1, Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5, Table 6 and Table 7.…”

“…A total of 300 samples were collected based on a previous related prevalence rate of 18% for HBV obtained from the formula for sample size estimation in prevalence studies given by: [18,19].…”