Abstract
Background: Healthcare Workers have a high risk of occupational exposure to many blood-borne diseases including HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C viral infections. Of these Hepatitis B is not only the most transmissible infection, but also the only one that is preventable by vaccination. Objectives: This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus infection in healthcare workers (HCWs) employed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and to measure protective levels of anti-HBs antibody titre in them. Methods: A total of 446 Health care workers are grouped in 7 categories according to nature of their work. After ethical clearance and written consent, all health care workers were explained about the objective of the study and were asked to fill a standard questionnaire regarding their personal health information. Their blood samples were tested by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for Hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-HBs antibody titres. Results and Interpretation: Out of 446 HCWs, 252 (56.5%) were vaccinated. In 199 (79%) of those vaccinated persons, protective levels (>10 IU/ mL) of anti-Hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) were seen. However, protective levels were also detected in 36 (19.35%) of 186 unvaccinated HCW as natural immunity (p<0.001). The antibody levels were significantly lower in those who were vaccinated more than 5 years ago than those who were vaccinated in last 5 years. Only 2 (0.4%) HCWs were found to be HBsAg positive. A significant number (41.7%) of HCW are unvaccinated even at this apex health care centre suggesting a need for proactive implementation of HBV vaccination programme.
Highlights
Hepatitis B infection is one of the major public health problems globally and is the tenth leading cause of death
We investigated the prevalence of Hepatitis B and vaccination coverage among health care workers (HCWs) of a tertiary care hospital
A total of 446 health-care workers were included in this study and out of them 252 (56.5%) were vaccinated and of them 224 (88.9%) were fully vaccinated while 28 (11.1%) were partially vaccinated i.e. they had not completed their full schedule of Hepatitis B vaccination
Summary
Hepatitis B infection is one of the major public health problems globally and is the tenth leading cause of death. Occupational exposure of HBV is a well recognized risk for health care workers (HCWs). According to WHO, the proportion of health-care workers in the general population varied substantially by region (0.2%-2.5%), as did the average number of injuries per health-care worker (0.2-4.7 sharps injuries per year). The annual proportion of health-care workers exposed to blood-borne pathogens was 5.9% for HBV, corresponding to about 66,000 HBV infections in health-care workers worldwide [4]. Healthcare Workers have a high risk of occupational exposure to many blood-borne diseases including HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C viral infections. Of these Hepatitis B is the most transmissible infection, and the only one that is preventable by vaccination
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