Frequency of Hepatitis B and C among healthy adult males from Central Sindh
Abstract
Objective: To assess the frequency of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HCV among healthy military recruits belonging to twelve districts of central Sind. Duration and place of study: Study was carried out at Pathology department of Combined Military Hospital, Hyderabad from Jan 2007 to Nov 2007. Type of study: Non lnterventional, cross sectional. Materials and methods: Military recruits who had passed all the fitness criteria and belonged to 12 districts of central Sindh, were included in this study. Serum was tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibodies against hepatitis C virus (antiHCV) by rapid lmmunochromatic test (ICT devices, Accurate, USA). The positive results were confirmed by third generation Enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELlSA). Descriptive statistics including, mean age and frequencies of seropositivity of hepatitis, for different districts were calculated. Results: A total of 2835 recruits, from twelve surrounding districts were screened and 355 recruits were confirmed positive by ELISA. Median age was 19 years (range 17-24 years). Combined frequency of hepatitis B & C was 12.5% in these districts. The separate frequencies of HBsAg and anti-HCV positivity were 7.3 and 5.2% respectively. Out of 355 positive cases, nine patients (0.3%) were positive, both for HBsAg and anti-HCV. The highest frequencies were seen in Nowsheroferoze (17.6%), Sanghar (17.1%), Nawabshah (14.0%) and Dadu (13.7%). Conclusion: There is very high frequency of hepatitis B and C in these districts of central Sind. The frequency of HBsAg is very high in these areas as compared to other areas of Pakistan.Downloads
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Copyright (c) 2016 Chaudhry Altaf, Saeed Akhtar, Adnan Qadir, Kamran Zumarrad Malik, Parvez Ahmed, aheeduz Zaman Tariq
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