Kandi Venkataramana, Katoch Abhilasha, Miniskar Harshitha, Jaripiti Sneha, Rv Sai Supreethi, Burugu Hemanth Reddy, Reddy Akhileshwar V, Bhasin Anurakshat
Clinical Microbiology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar, IND.
Medicine, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar, IND.
Cureus. 2020 Jul 10;12(7):e9121. doi: 10.7759/cureus.9121.
Introduction Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is probably the only vaccine-preventable virus transmitted from one person to the other by blood transfusion, sex, and contact with blood and blood products. HBV is highly transmissible, where the infection has been noted to transmit among the household contacts. HBV is also transmitted from the mother to the child through the transplacental barrier. Clinical infection with HBV may be chronic and could remain for a lifetime. Most exposures with HBV are automatically resolved, but a few infected people may become carriers and may transmit infections. Although HBV can be treated, complete elimination of the virus and the morbidity and mortality associated with chronic infection should be considered as a cause of serious concern. Because healthcare workers are predisposed to HBV infection, adequate knowledge about the virus and the vaccine to prevent the infection is necessary. This study is carried out to assess the knowledge of HBV infection and the status of vaccination among medical, paramedical students, laboratory technicians, and doctors. Methods The study included 256 participants attending a tertiary care teaching hospital in Telangana, South India. The participants belonged to three groups, the MBBS students (first, second-, and third-year students), the doctors (the postgraduates, medical teachers, and the clinicians), and the paramedical personnel. All the participants in the study were included after oral consent, and the study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. A questionnaire containing 13 points was used for the study. Seven questions were asked to know the respondent's knowledge of HBV infection, and the other six were used to know the participant's knowledge and status of HBV vaccination. The study participants filled in the responses with their current understanding of the HBV infection and the vaccine. All the responses were analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel and drawing means and percentages. Results Among the 94 medical students, 79 (84%) knew about HBV infection. There was a significant improvement in the knowledge of HBV infection among MBBS students, with first-year MBBS (68%) to the final-year MBBS (100%). The knowledge of HBV among the doctors (postgraduates, medical teachers, and clinicians) was 100%. Among the paramedical participants that included the laboratory technicians and the nursing students, all (100%) knew about HBV infection. Very few MBBS students (12%), 28% of paramedical persons, and 45% of doctors were tested for HBV infection. The knowledge of HBV vaccination was best among the doctors (100%) followed by the paramedical personnel (89%) and the MBBS students (72%). The teaching faculty including the postgraduate students (83%) were vaccinated followed by the paramedical persons (66%), and only 24% of MBBS students were vaccinated. Conclusions The study participants had a reasonably good knowledge of HBV infection, and low vaccination rates were observed among various participants. There is an urgent need to understand the significance of HBV infection, especially among healthcare workers. Being easily transmissible and because of the availability of an effective vaccine, healthcare workers should be adequately vaccinated to prevent the spread of infection.
引言 乙型肝炎病毒(HBV)可能是唯一一种可通过输血、性行为以及接触血液和血液制品在人与人之间传播的可通过疫苗预防的病毒。HBV具有高度传染性,在家居接触者之间也可发生感染传播。HBV还可通过胎盘屏障由母亲传播给孩子。HBV临床感染可能为慢性,且可能终生存在。大多数HBV暴露可自行缓解,但少数感染者可能成为携带者并传播感染。虽然HBV可以治疗,但彻底清除病毒以及与慢性感染相关的发病率和死亡率应被视为严重关切的问题。由于医护人员易感染HBV,因此有必要充分了解该病毒及预防感染的疫苗。本研究旨在评估医学生、医学辅助专业学生、实验室技术人员和医生对HBV感染的了解情况以及疫苗接种状况。
方法 本研究纳入了印度南部特伦甘纳邦一家三级护理教学医院的256名参与者。参与者分为三组,即医学学士(MBBS)学生(大一、大二和大三学生)、医生(研究生、医学教师和临床医生)以及医学辅助人员。研究中的所有参与者均在口头同意后纳入,本研究获机构伦理委员会批准。使用一份包含13个问题的问卷进行研究。其中7个问题用于了解受访者对HBV感染的了解情况,另外6个问题用于了解参与者对HBV疫苗接种的了解情况和接种状况。研究参与者根据他们对HBV感染和疫苗的当前理解填写答案。所有答案均使用Microsoft Office Excel进行分析,并计算均值和百分比。
结果 在94名医学生中,79人(84%)了解HBV感染。MBBS学生对HBV感染的了解有显著提高,从大一MBBS学生的68%提高到最后一年MBBS学生的100%。医生(研究生、医学教师和临床医生)对HBV的了解率为100%。在包括实验室技术人员和护理专业学生在内的医学辅助参与者中,所有人(100%)都了解HBV感染。接受过HBV感染检测的MBBS学生很少(12%),医学辅助人员为28%,医生为45%。医生中对HBV疫苗接种的了解最好(100%),其次是医学辅助人员(89%)和MBBS学生(72%)。包括研究生在内的教师队伍中接种疫苗的比例为83%,其次是医学辅助人员(66%),只有24%的MBBS学生接种了疫苗。
结论 研究参与者对HBV感染有相当不错的了解,但不同参与者的疫苗接种率较低。迫切需要了解HBV感染的重要性,尤其是在医护人员中。由于HBV易于传播且有有效的疫苗,医护人员应充分接种疫苗以防止感染传播。