Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus and Associated Risk Factors among Hemodialysis Patients in Ibb City-Yemen

Abstract

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are highly prevalent among patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) and constitute the major threat that challenges the health system in developing countries. Therefore, the present work aimed to find out the prevalence rate of HBV and HCV infections and risk factors among patients attending the dialysis center in Al-Thawrah hospital in Ibb city, Yemen. One hundred (100) serum specimens were collected from HD patients from May 2013 to April 2016. Also, the data concerning risk factors were collected by using a designed questionnaire. The collected specimens were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and HCV antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) techniques. The results revealed that the overall prevalence of HBV, HCV, and co-infection was 3%, 21%, and 2%, respectively, recorded in this study. The age group of 31-45 years, males, unmarried patients had the highest rate of HBV infection while HCV infection was highly recorded among age group >45 years, female, and married. Also, the patients living in the urban area and illiterate showed the highest infections with HBV and HCV. It can be concluded that the high prevalence of hepatitis infections among HD patients in Yemen represents a serious community health problem to become a nosocomial infection in dialysis units. So, strict adherence to proper and effective procedures for infection control may be reduced and prevented the prevalence of hepatitis infections.