Zubair Ahmad Abbasi, Ashraf Jahangeer, Mohammad Nasir, Navid Rashid Qureshi, Amber Jaffery, Fouzia Nasim.
A survey of hepatitis B infection awareness and prevalence of vaccinated Dental students in teaching institutions of Karachi.
Ann Abbasi Shaheed Hosp Karachi Med Dent Coll Jan ;12(2):91-6.

Aims and objectives: We conducted a survey to determine the awareness of hepatitis B virus infection and prevalence of vaccinated dental students in the teaching institutions of Karachi. Materials and method: A questionnaire survey was conducted about awareness, prevention, transmission of hepatitis B infection and vaccination against hepatitis B, from students of all five dental institutes in Karachi. Results: Total of 590 students replied, with 243 (42%) students from pre-clinical and 347 (58%) from the clinical years. Frequency of vaccinated dental students was 86.16% in clinical whereas 74.89 among pre clinical students (p-value 0.01). Knowledge of transmission and awareness was high amongst the clinical students as compared with pre-clinical (pvalue 0.01). Preclinical students were more aware about the prevention of HBV infection than clinical students (p-value 0.01). Conclusions: A considerable proportion of students is not vaccinated against hepatitis B. In our sample clinical dental students had inadequate knowledge regarding prevention of HBV infection. Strategies need to be developed by the concerned authorities for prevention HBV infection in dental professional during their training and education.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com