Abstract
Background: Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections are considered important public health problems worldwide. Surgical procedures and dental treatment procedures in the health care setting are the important transmission mode of hepatitis B and C viruses. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections and to assess the knowledge and practices of patients undergoing surgery in Sulaimani city. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in Sulaimani city from the 1st of February to 1st of August 2015. Participants were evaluated using a structured questionnaire by face-to-face interview to measure the Knowledge and practices of HBV and HCV by using convenience sampling method. Results: A total of 17182 patients from 7 hospitals were included in this study. HBsAg was positive in 127 (0.7%) of patients and anti-HCV positive was 76 (0.4%). While no positive cases of both HBsAg and anti-HCV together observed. Majority of participants (63.5%) had poor knowledge level and only 19% had a good knowledge level. Also 76.2% of respondents had poor practices level and only 1.3% was with good practices level. Conclusions: The study demonstrates that there is low prevalence of HBV and HCV among patients undergoing surgery. Prevalence of HBsAg is more common than anti-HCV in the study population. This study observed that there is lack of knowledge and practices towards hepatitis B and C viruses among study population in our setting.
Highlights
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are the major public health problems, the most common bloodborne infections and occurring endemically in all places of the world [1]
Out of 17182 patients, 203 (1.2%) patients were found to be positive for either HBV or HCV, 127 patients were detected to be HBsAg positive making a prevalence of 0.7%, while 76 patients were detected to be positive for anti-HCV making a prevalence of 0.4%
17182 individuals were screened for HBsAg and anti-HCV antibodies, age groups are divided into 6 groups, and specific percentage of HBV and HCV markers is presented in Tables 2 and 3, respectively
Summary
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are the major public health problems, the most common bloodborne infections and occurring endemically in all places of the world [1]. The global burden of hepatitis B and C viral infections is widely present: around one third of the world’s population has been exposed to the HBV infection, an estimated 350-400 million people are infected and one million people deaths of hepatitis-B-related diseases [2]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that HCV infects more than 185 million people worldwide, and estimates that mortality rate will continue to increase over the 20 years [3]. Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections are considered important public health problems worldwide. Surgical procedures and dental treatment procedures in the health care setting are the important transmission mode of hepatitis B and C viruses
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