Abstract:
The Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) causes liver infection that can be life –threatening and often leads to chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. A cross sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and risk factors of Hepatitis B Virus distribution in Enugu Metropolis. A total of 518 subjects were sampled over a period of 2 years, from January 2013 to January 2015, namely 233 Blood donors, 164 pregnant women, 37 Diabetic patients, 62 HIV patients and 22 sickle cell patients. Approximately 5mls of blood was aseptically collected from each volunteer and analyzed for hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg). All positive samples were analyzed for liver enzymes, ALT (alanine aminotransferase) and AST (aspartate aminotransferase) using kinetic, UV method. HIV patients positive for HBV were analyzed for CD4+ lymphocyte count. Out of 518 samples, 45 (8.7%) were positive for HbsAg. The prevalence of HBV was highest among HIV patients 16 (25.8%), followed by blood donor 20 (8.6%), pregnant women 9 (5.5%) and 0% for both sickle cell and diabetic patients. Higher prevalence of HbsAg was found among males 25 (10.2%) than females 20 (7.3%). Abnormal levels of transaminases (ALT and AST) were more in HIV patients (43.8%) than in pregnant women (22.2%) and in blood donors (10%). Out of the 45 HbsAg positive patients, 8 (17.8%) had high ALT levels, while 9 (20.0%) had high AST level. All patients co-infected with HIV-HBV had CD4+ lymphocyte count of less than 1000 cells/µl even though they were on combination antiretroviral therapy. The risk factors of HBV in this study were multiple sex partner, age, being married and unemployment (P=0.000), (P=0.045), (P=0.000) and (P=0.014) respectively. Thus, this study has shown a high prevalence of Hepatitis B virus in Enugu metropolis.
