AMONG THE HEALTHCARE WORKERS LOW HCV AND HBV PREVALENCE DESPITE LOW VACCINATION COVERAGE FOR HEPATITIS B IN SERVICES HOSPITAL LAHORE

Background- Among health care workers the HBV and HCV prevalence is high due to the in contact of body fluids or exposure of blood or its products. There are a huge number of health workers who don’t get vaccinated even due to high risk of hepatitis. The aim of this study is to investigate the HCV and HBV prevalence in health workers. This study also investigates the hepatitis B and C in different people of study population. Methods- This is a cross-sectional study in which 1347 subjects including hospital staff were screened for hepatitis B and C. By ELISA method by anti-HCV detected the HCV and HBsAg can detected the HBV. By HCV RNA testing and by HBV DNA testing confirmed the positive results. From the pre-designed questionnaire data was collected from the study participants. Results- When all the subjects were screened i.e. 1347 subjects 0.1% (2 patients) had anti-HCV positive and 0.4% (6 subjects) had HBsAg positive. Out of 1347 0.3% had incomplete vaccination and 54% had complete vaccination history. Out of all vaccinated people 24.3% were technicians, 6.6% were office staff, 5.4% were servants, 61.4% were teachers, 66.1% were nurses, 68.9% were medical students, 76.7% residents. 77.7% of people were aware about the HBV and HCV and complications related to them. 16.3% of servants had awareness about HBV and HCV which is very low, 97.8% of residents and 93.9% of teachers had awareness about HBV and HCV. Conclusion- In this study it was found that the HCV and HBV prevalence was high in general population than the hospital staff. The vaccination coverage for hepatitis B was very low in all people including teachers and doctors. Keywords: hepatitis B vaccination, hepatitis B, Health care worker