Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus among Febrile Patient in General Hospital Okigwe, Imo State, Nigeria

Introduction: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major cause of prenatal death worldwide. Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection is associated with an increased risk of cirrhosis, hepatic decomposition, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Objective: This project work surveyed the prevalence of hepatitis B among febrile patients as well as to detect hepatitis B virus in the blood and the stage of the infection of hepatitis B on the affected patients and carrier stage or state of immunity of the affected patients. Methodology: A well-designed questionnaire/checklist was used to gather information regarding age, HIV-Status, and sex from 50 febrile patients. 2 ml of blood sample was obtained by venin-puncture using a sterile hypodermic syringe and emptied into a clean dry tube (without anticoagulant) observing the necessary aseptic techniques. The blood was centrifuged and the sera obtained and stored at 2 - 8 c for HBsAg screening. Hepatitis B virus was tested using an in-vitro diagnostic kit called HBsAg one-step rapid test strip. The HBsAg one-step rapid test is a lateral flow chromatographic immunoassay based on the principle of the double antibody-sandwich technique. The membrane is pre-coated with anti-HBsAg antibodies on the test line region of the test. During testing, the serum specimen reacts with the particle coated with anti-HBsAg antibody. The serum moves up with capillary action to react with the coated antibody on the membrane. Then, the colored line (positive) will be generated which shows the presence of the virus. But negative shows absence of the virus. The blood in the test tube was spun using a centrifuge to separate the red cells from the serum. The test pouch, serum, and control were allowed to equilibrate to room temperature before testing. The test strip was removed from the sealed pouch and used immediately. The test strip was immersed vertically into the serum with the arrows pointing towards the serum for about 10 - 15 seconds, without exceeding the maximum line on the test strip. The strip was placed on a non-absorbent flat surface. The time was set and the result read after 15 minutes and recorded. The procedure was repeated for each sample and the results were recorded accordingly. The test is positive when two red lines appear on the test region (T) and control region (C) only. The result is said to be invalid when one line appears on the test region (T) and non on the control region (C) and also when no line appears on both the test region (T) and control region (C). Results: After interpretation of the result of the test on fifty patients, Table 1 shows the age range of the population. The total distribution of subjects concerning age was as follows: 4 out of 50 populations (8%) were observed for the age range of 0 - 10;7 out of 50 (14%) were observed of the age range of 11 - 20;28 out of 50 (56%) were observed for a range of 21 - 30;9 out of 50 (18%) were observed for the age range of 31 - 40;2 out of 50 (4%) were observed at the age range of 21 - 30 with percentage seroprevalence of 4%. There is no significant correlation in the age group concerning percentage seroprevalence (P = 0.05). Also, the sex of the study population as seen in Table 2 shows that 21 were males and 29 were females. Out of the 21 males population, 3 (14.24%) were positive. In the female population, 5 out of 29 (17.24%) were positive. The prevalence of the population concerning their sex was tested using Pearson’s chi-square and it was concluded that there is no significant relationship between sex and seroprevalence of hepatitis B. Table 3 shows the HIV of the study population and it shows that 6 out of 14 HIV positive patients (42.56%) were positive and 3 out of 36 HIV-negative patients (4.55%)) were positive. The prevalence of the population concerning HIV status was tested using Pearson’s chi-square and it was concluded that there is a significant association between HIV status and seroprevalence of hepatitis B. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study shows that there is a low prevalence of hepatitis B among febrile patients at the study area, hence limiting fever as a major determinant of hepatitis B infection. Considering the high risk of HBV in HIV co-infected patients, there is a need for the screening of HIV-infected patients for hepatitis B and appropriate therapy followed up on possible HBV-HIV co-infected patients. Appropriate preventive measures especially vaccination against hepatitis B virus should be encouraged among the susceptible population.