Undiagnosed Hepatitis B and C Virus Infection at a Teaching Hospital in Rawalpindi

Abstract

Uncontrolled prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections is known to be a global health problem. Many cases are undiagnosed yet. So, this study focusses on the undiagnosed existence of viral infection of hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C infection (HCV) in hospitalized patients and outdoor attendees to draw a more accurate picture of the prevalence of HBV and HCV. A cross-sectional observational study at Benazir Bhutto hospital Rawalpindi Pakistan continued for seven months and included hospitalized patients and outdoor attendees. Venous blood collected from 2003 subjects and processed to investigate infection by ELISA. We observed the overall prevalence of HBV was 2.6% and HCV was 10.98%. Further 4.2% was the highest infection rate of HBV in patients of Surgery and Medicine and the lowest in Orthopedics, Urology, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Intensive Care Unit, Ear Throat and Nose, Eye>0.001%. We found the highest rate of HCV infection was in Medicine 22.90% and the lowest was in Pediatrics>0.001%. For the age, the HBV infection was found to be 4.55% the most prevalent in the age range of 61-75 and the lowest>0.001% in 76-90 years. Age group 46-60 years showed the highest 19.07% and 16-30 years the lowest 6.44% prevalence of HCV infection. Observed HBV-positive participants were 60.78% males and 39.22% females. While among the participants, males contributed 50.90% H C Virus infections and females contributed 49.10% infections. Although undiagnosed but prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infection is very high. Therefore, some effective strategies should be implemented.

Keywords

• hepatitis b
• hepatitis c
• public policy
• enzyme assays
• prevalence