Magnitude of Hepatitis B and C virus infection among patients attending Halaba Kulito primary hospital, South Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B and C virus infection are among causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. They are major causes of chronic liver disease which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Globally, HBV and HCV infection accounts 620,000 and 350,000 people’s death per year respectively. Ethiopia is one of the high burden countries with regard to prevalence of HBsAg and anti-HCV. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the magnitude of HBV and HCV infection among patients attending Halaba Kulito Primary Hospital, Halaba zone, South Ethiopia from Sep 2019 to April 2020. Method: A facility based retrospective cross sectional study was conducted from Feb 1 to Feb 30/2020. Data extraction sheet was used for the collection of socio-demographic and HBV and HCV infection status data. SPSS version 20 statistical software packages was applied for analysis. Descriptive statistics like frequencies and proportions was used to summarize the data. Qi square test analyses was applied to examine the relationship between the dependent variables and associated factors. A P-value < 0.05 was considered to declare a significant association. Result: Of 750 participants examined for hepatitis B, and hepatitis C viruses‘sero-status, the majority were females (82.1%). Among the enrolled participants 24.5 %( 184) were infected with at least one of the two pathogens. About 14.7% (110) of the participants were found to be sero-positive for HBsAg. Anti-HCV antibody positivity rate was 9.9 %( 74). Both hepatitis B and C virus infection was highly prevalent in patients came from Weyira Zuriya woreda and followed by Atoti Uullo woreda. Conclusion and Recommendation: The prevalence of Hepatitis B and C virus was considerably higher among participants at Halaba primary hospital. The finding suggests the need for strengthening prevention and control strategies of hepatitis infections.