Syed Abid Ali, Fareed Akber Shah, Khalid Ahmed.
Prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus in surgical patients.
Pak J Surg Jan ;23(2):109-12.

Objective: To assess the current prevalence of Hepatitis B and C virus in our set up. Design & Duration: Prospective descriptive study from June 2005 to December 2006. Setting: Department of Surgery, Baqai Medical University, Karachi. Patients: All patients who were operated during the study period. Methodology: The detailed information about each patient was entered on a pre-designed questionnaire, including age, sex, type of operation, HBV and HCV screening test results, and presence of risk factors like: history of drug addiction, blood transfusion, family history of hepatitis, tattooing, viral vaccination, hospitalization, previous surgery, haemodialysis, etc. Results: Amongst the total 275 patients, 27 (9.8%) had the Hepatitis virus: HBV-10, HCV-14 and HBV & HCV-3. Infection was more common among male patients and those between the ages of 41-50 years. Conclusion: Knowledge about Hepatitis risk factors is deficient, hence there should be more emphasis on public mass education programmes. Besides HBV vaccination should be carried out to reduce Hepatitis transmission.

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