Abstract

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Hepatitis B virus is highly infectious and a major global health problemas it causes chronic liver diseases such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.The study was carried out to assess and compare the prevalence of HbsAb among Nigerian and Indian students of Jodhpur national university India, in an effort to identify the vulnerable individuals and enlighten the public about the danger and risk factors associated with the sero negative status of HbsAb individuals. Total of 202 samples were studied using enzymes linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Antibody index was obtained and result wasanalyzed according to standard procedure. Result shows that 37/202 (18.32%) of the total subjects were positive to HbsAb. High prevalence of 23/101 (22.77%) HBsAb was found among Indian students while only 14/101 (13.86) of Nigerians werefound to be positive. Also,17/69(24.64%) of total females students werepositive while 20/133 (15.03%) of the male students were positive. Studentsaged17-22 years had high prevalence of HbsAb (22.44%) followed by those aged 23-28years(17.39%), 29-34years(11.11%) then 35 years andabove with (0%) prevalence. According to vaccination status 25/68 (36.76%) of vaccinated subjects were positive while only 12/134 (8.95%)were positive for non-vaccinated. 37/194 (19.07%) of unmarried students were positive while among 8 married students none of them waspositive.Additionally, 33/169 (19.52%) of the individuals that live in urban area were HbsAb positive while only 4/33 (12.12%) of those living in rural area were positive. This research clearly shows that Indian students have high prevalence of HbsAb than Nigerian students, due to the fact that majority of students tested positive already vaccinated with hepatitis B vaccine and majority of them were Indians. Total of 18.32% prevalence of HbsAb among the subjects also questioned the effectiveness of hepatitis B vaccination program in both two countries. Therefore there is need for health promotion awareness campaign to educate the general public about importance of HBV vaccination.

Keywords: Antibodies, Hepatitis B, Seroprevalence, Vaccination