Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection among Apparently Healthy Students of a Tertiary Institution in North-eastern Nigeria.
Abstract
This is a cross-sectional laboratory based study in which two hundred blood samples were aseptically and randomly collected from apparently healthy students of Federal Polytechnic Mubi. Participants were screened for Hepatitis B surface antigen and anti HCV antibody using standard procedures. Ethical clearance and participant's informed consent were sought and obtained from appropriate authorities and concerned participants respectively. All data generated from this study were analysed for statistical relevance using Mann-Whitney and Duncan Chi square test. Of the 200 samples screened, 20% were seropositive for HBsAg while 11.5% were seropositive for anti-HCV antibody. The sex related prevalence of 22.1% formales and 15.9% forfemales were obtained for HBV, while 13.7% for males and 7.2% for females were obtained for HCV. There was no significant association between gender and HBsAg (P=0.281) and HCV (P=0.196) infections. All the age brackets showed no HBsAg/HCV co-infection. While HBsAg was found to be more prevalent among age group 25-29yrs (32.8%), HCV was found to be more prevalent among the age group 30-34yrs (20.6%) but with no statistical difference for both HBsAg (P=0.135) and HCV (P=0.199).
Keywords: Seroprevalence, Hepatitis, Apparently healthy, Co-infection.