Molla Sefinew, Munshea Abaineh, Nibret Endalkachew
Biology Department, Faculty of Natural and Computational Science, Debre Tabor University, Debra Tabor, Ethiopia.
Biology Department, College of Science, Bahir Dar University, P.O. Box-79, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
Virol J. 2015 Dec 2;12:204. doi: 10.1186/s12985-015-0437-7.
Viral hepatitis is a life-threatening liver disease that has become important public health issue in developing countries including Ethiopia. This study was undertaken to determine the seroprevalence of HBsAgs and anti-HCV antibodies and what socio-demographic factors are associated with sero-positivity of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections among pregnant women attending maternity ward of Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, northwest, Ethiopia.
Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2013 to January 2014. Blood samples were randomly collected from 384 pregnant women. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, obstetric and potential risk factors were collected using semi-structured questionnaire. Chromatographic kits were used to detect the presence of HBsAg and antibodies against HCV in serum samples of the studied subjects. Chi-square test was used for assessing the association between socio-demographic variables and HBV and HCV status. Logistic regression analysis was done to determine the strength of association between risk factors and HBV or HCV infection. P-values less than 0.05 were considered as significant.
Seroprevalnce of hepatitis B and C virus infections were found to be 4.4 and 0.26 %, respectively. None of the pregnant women were co-infected by these two viruses. Amongst the potential risk factors, previous history of dental procedure (AOR = 4.104, CI = 1.276-13.201, P = 0.018), house hold contact (AOR = 5.475, CI = 1.472-20.368, P = 0.011), multiple sexual exposure (AOR = 5.041, CI = 1.580-16.076, P = 0.006), and delivery at traditional birth attendants (AOR = 4.100, CI = 0.195-86.129, P = 0.024) were significantly associated with and important predictors of hepatitis B infection.
This study found an intermediate endemicity (4.4 %) of HBV infection in pregnant women whereas seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibody was very small, but this needs to be confirmed by other similar studies with larger sample size. Thus, scaling up of the screening of pregnant women for HBV and HCV infections and provision of health education about the risk factors, the mode of transmissions and prevention is recommended.
病毒性肝炎是一种危及生命的肝脏疾病，在包括埃塞俄比亚在内的发展中国家已成为重要的公共卫生问题。本研究旨在确定乙型肝炎表面抗原（HBsAg）和抗丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）抗体的血清流行率，以及在埃塞俄比亚西北部费莱格·希沃特转诊医院产科病房就诊的孕妇中，哪些社会人口学因素与乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染的血清阳性有关。
2013年11月至2014年1月进行了一项基于医院的横断面研究。从384名孕妇中随机采集血样。使用半结构化问卷收集社会人口学特征、产科和潜在风险因素的数据。采用色谱试剂盒检测研究对象血清样本中HBsAg和抗HCV抗体的存在情况。采用卡方检验评估社会人口学变量与HBV和HCV状态之间的关联。进行逻辑回归分析以确定风险因素与HBV或HCV感染之间的关联强度。P值小于0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
乙型肝炎和丙型肝炎病毒感染的血清流行率分别为4.4%和0.26%。没有孕妇同时感染这两种病毒。在潜在风险因素中，既往牙科治疗史（比值比[AOR]=4.104，可信区间[CI]=1.276 - 13.201，P = 0.018）、家庭接触（AOR = 5.475，CI = 1.472 - 20.368，P = 0.011）、多个性伴侣接触（AOR = 5.041，CI = 1.580 - 16.076，P = 0.006）以及由传统接生员接生（AOR = 4.100，CI = 0.195 - 86.129，P = 0.024）与乙型肝炎感染显著相关且是重要的预测因素。
本研究发现孕妇中HBV感染呈中度流行（4.4%），而抗HCV抗体的血清流行率很低，但这需要通过其他样本量更大的类似研究来证实。因此，建议扩大对孕妇进行HBV和HCV感染筛查的范围，并提供有关风险因素、传播方式和预防的健康教育。
