Sero-Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection Among Individuals in Zamfara State, North Western Nigeria

Background and Objective: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global problem of public importance. About 2 billion people are said to be infected worldwide with about 240 million chronic carriers most of which are from Asia and sub-Saharan African countries. Knowing the HBV status of our population is essential for effective management and control of the disease. This study seeks to determine HBV susceptibility and serological patterns among the study subjects. Materials and Methods: The 310 participants were enrolled for the study. Blood samples were collected by venipuncture, processed and tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) using a first response card and serological markers of HBV using a one-step HBV multi-5 test kit. The Chi-square was used to determine a significant association between the data obtained. Results: A prevalence of 6.7% HBsAg was obtained. Among the socio-demographic factors considered there was a significant association between gender, marital status of the participants and seropositivity. All the risk factors considered were not statistically associated with the seropositivity in this study. A substantial number of the participants 28.6% had detectable antibodies to envelope antigen (Anti-HBe) correlating to decreased infectivity. However, 42.9% of the participants had detectable antibodies to HBV core antigen (anti-HBc) an indication of low immunity and probably chronic infection with a risk of horizontal or vertical transmission. Conclusion: It was concluded that there was a significant association between the gender and marital status of the participants and the infection.