FREQUENCY OF HEPATITIS B & C IN YOUNG MALE RECRUITS FROM RURAL PAKISTAN

Frequency of Hepatitis B & C

Abstract

Objective: To know the frequency of HBV and HCV amongst male recruits.
Study Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.
Place and duration of study: Pathology laboratory CMH Malir Cantt over a period of six months (June to December 2005).
Materials and Methods: Recruits from rural areas of all provinces of Pakistan reporting to Pathology laboratory CMH Malir Cantt for screening of HBV and HCV before enrollment in army.
Results: During the period of this study a total of 3320 recruits were screened for hepatitis B and C viral infections. Overall Seropositivity of anti HCV was found to be 3.2% while 4.5 % of recruits tested positive for HBsAg. Province wise distribution showed Sindh had the highest frequency of HCV positive cases i.e 6.4% though Punjab had almost equal values of HBV and HCV of around 4%. While 2.7% of those from NWFP tested positive for HBsAg and 1.4% of them for Anti-HCV. Balochistan and Northern areas had no more than 0.5% of HBsAg positive cases while there was no hepatitis C positive candidate from these areas.
Conclusion: This study indicates that young healthy, recruits from all the four provinces revealed an overall 4.5% frequency of HBsAg carriers and 3.2% of the screened population.