Faizah Abdul Qayyum, Khalid Mahmood, Muhammad Rashid Siraj.
Prevalence of Blood Borne Diseases (Hepatitis B & C) and Strategy to Protect Health Care Workers.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;6(3):640-3.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of blood borne infections particularly hepatitis B and C in our hospital and devise a strategy to protect health care workers from these infections. Study design: It is a descriptive study. Place & duration of study: We conducted study at Akhtar Saeed Trust Teaching Hospital, attached with Akhtar Saeed Medical and Dental College, Lahore for eight months from April to November 2011. Methods: The study targeted the low to middle socioeconomic group that comprises 80% to 85% of the population. All the patients were analyzed by ELISA for detection of Hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis C virus. Results: Total 1891 subjects were screened for hepatitis B and C viruses. Out of 1891 subjects, 340(17.9%) were positive either for Hepatitis B or C viruses. Out of these, 27(7.94%) were positive for HBsAg, 309(90.8%) were anti HCV positive and 4 were both hepatitis B & C positive (1.17%). 125(36.76%) were males and 215(63.24%) were females. Female to male ratio is 1.7:1. The age range was 12-90 years, and majority of patients were between 40-49 years, followed by 20-29 yrs age group. Conclusion: Higher prevalence of HCV than HBV infection, highlighting an alarming situation of female preponderance than males.

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