Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov-Dec;31(6):1394-8.
doi: 10.12669/pjms.316.7047.

Frequency and determinants of Hepatitis B and C virus in general population of Farash Town, Islamabad

Munazza Asad  1 , Farah Ahmed  2 , Humaira Zafar  3 , Sabir Farman  4
Affiliations

Frequency and determinants of Hepatitis B and C virus in general population of Farash Town, Islamabad

Munazza Asad et al. Pak J Med Sci. 2015 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Background and objective: Both Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are rapidly spreading in the developing countries. Both of them are blood borne and are transmitted through un-screened blood transfusion, inadequately sterilized needles and equipment. According to WHO's criteria of endemicity, Pakistan has high disease burden of Hepatitis B and C. The present study was planned to determine the frequency and to identify the risk factors of hepatitis B and C virus in the general community of Farash town.

Methods: This descriptive study was carried out in Al Nafees Medical Hospital Lab, from January 2013 to December 2013. Both the genders and all age groups were included in the study. All the patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria had given a written consent. Data was collected through questionnaire and was analyzed on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.

Results: Three-hundred and forty five patients were studied. Among these 92 (27%) were males and 253(73%) were female, 33% of them had hepatitis C, 9% had hepatitis B. History of injections was reported in all of the patients. Visit to community barbers was present in 58.6% and 41% cases of hepatitis B and C. History of dental procedures was obtained in 7(24%) and 15(13%) patients of hepatitis B and C.

Conclusion: Major contributors for Hepatitis B and C in Farash town are use of unsterilized therapeutic injections and visit to community barbers. Education of the barbers regarding sterilization may help in reducing the burden of infection in this community.

Keywords: Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C; Risk Factors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig.1
Fig.1
Prevalence rates of Hepatitis B & C and both in different age groups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Khan MS, Jamil M, Jan S, Zardad S, Sultan S, Sahibzada AS. Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C in Orthopedics patients at Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbotabad. JAMC. 2007;19(4):82–84. - PubMed
    1. Nafees M, Farooq M, Jafferi G. Frequency of hepatitis B and C infections in the general population of Lahore, Pakistan. Biomedica. 2009;25:106–111.
    1. Aziz S, Khanani R, Noorulain W, Rajper J. Frequency of hepatitis B and C in rural and periurban Sindh. J Pak Med Assoc. 2010;60(12):1069–1071. - PubMed
    1. Sharif TB, Tariq WUZ. Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B and C in healthy adult male recruits. Pak J Pathol. 2006;17(4):142–146.
    1. Bosan A, Qureshi H, Mohammad K, Ahmad I, Hafiz R. A review of hepatitis viral infections in Pakistan. J Pak Med Assoc. 2010;60(12):1045–1058. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources