Diagnosis and monitoring: P24–P27 Natural history and epidemiology: P28–P31

MAIN OBJECTIVESHepatitis B is a major public health problem and about 2 billion people globally, have been infected with this problem. Present study was carried out among students of University ofSargodha, Pakistan to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B. Blood samples of 1193 students were screened for hepatitis B through ELISA. Overall 3.18% student were found HBVpositive with higher prevalence among males than females . The most infected age group was from 18-20 years while student from intermediate sections were highly infected ascompare to Graduate and Masters Students. The students from rural areas have higher prevalence than ones living in urban areas. Among females, 70%, infected students werehaving ear-nose piercing in contrast to 30% with out that. The current study revealed that there is a need to modify the strategies in a direction to target those high risk groups andcontributing factor which have been identified during current studies i.e. rural population, young males, females going for ear nose piercing and cultural/rural barbers. Females with Ear nose piercing positive for Hepatitis B 024681012 Total Hepatitis B+ve Females+ve Females with EN piercingNoofPositiviefemales Series1Distribution of Hepatitis B cases in relation to educational level 0,001,002,003,004,005,006,007,008,009,00 IntermediateGraduationMasters/M.PhilEduational level%Positiveindividual Series1Social Distribution of positive Hepatitis B cases amonguniversity students in University of Sargodha 0,001,002,003,004,005,006,007,00 UrbanRuralSocial Area%Positiveindividuals % PositiveGender based Social Distribution of Hepatitis B cases amonguniversity students in University of Sargodha Pakistan 0102030405060708090 MaleFemaleGender%PositiveUrbanRuralAgewise distribution with in positive cases of Hepatitis B amonguniversity students in University of Sargodha, Pakistan 0,0010,0020,0030,0040,0050,0060,0070,0080,00 18 -20 Years21 – 22 Years 23 Years and aboveAge Groups%Positiveindividuals MaleFemaleGender based district wise seroprevalence of Hepatitis B amongstudents in University of Sargodha, Pakistan 0,002,004,006,008,0010,0012,0014,0016,0018,0020,00 Sa rgo dhaMia nw aliJha ngBh akkarCh inio teM.B .Di nGu jra nw alaFa isa lab adKh ush abHa fiza badLa yya hAtt ock AJKRa wa lpin diMu ltan Name of District%postitiveindividual Positive malePositive femaleThis study in the University of Sargodha was planned to conduct the survey of youngstudents as the number of students in university is more than 17,000 and itrepresents a very good sample population of the home and adjoining other districtsThe main objectives of the study were The assessment of disease burden due to Hepatitis B virus The assessment of the carrier of the parasite in the initial stage of infection To develop data bank of safe blood donors Identification of high risk groups and subgroups in the population To assist Public health program in order to re-direct/refresh their strategiesINTRODUCTION Materials & Methods For study purpose selected students were in good general health Blood samples of 1193 students(628 female,565 male),November 2009 to May 2010 Age from 18 to 30.years Detection of Hepatitis B surface antigens (HBsAg) through direct sandwich ELISA . Data of selected students was recorded having following information Previous history of blood transfusion, medical or dental treatment/procedures Attack of any type of hepatitis Vaccination against hepatitis B Use of any sort of medicines including antibiotics in the recent past. For the females data regarding the ear and nose piercing was also notedHepatitis is the liver inflammation in which tissues of the organs have inflammatory cells with five main types of Hepatitis viruses, named as A,B,C,D and E. Hepatitis B virus (HBV)causes Hepatitis B. It is classified within the family Hepadnavirus (Ganem and Schneider, 2001). It causes acute and chronic Hepatitis that result in cirrhosis and hepatocellularcarcinoma (Birrer et al., 2003).Worldwide approximately 2 billion people are infected with Hepatitis B virus and it is also recognized as one of the public health challenges (WHO,1996). The disease is wide spread with variation in endemicity from Asia to Africa and from Europe to America and Australia. In Pakistan its prevalence is estimated moderate tohigh in four provinces and the likely modes of transmission are drug abuse, use of contaminated needles, unsafe blood and blood products transfusion (Ali et al., 2009). Thereported prevalence is higher in males than females (Akhtar et al., (2008) Essa et al., 2007). The ideal public health approach for diseases prevention and control is to use routinepopulation based surveillance data to:1) Monitor the magnitude of diseases 2) Identify high risk subgroups 3) Guide national/provincial strategic plans for prevention and controlLarge scale cross-sectional surveys can provide good prevalence information and categorize risk factors and risk groups. Over all Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B among students in Univrsityof Sargodha Pakistan 00.511.522.533.5 Over All PrevalenceAmong malesAmong females%Positiveindividuals % PositiveRESULTS District wise Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B among students inUniversity of Sargodha Pakistan 0.002.004.006.008.0010.0012.00 Sa rgo dhaMia nw ali Jha ngBh akkarCh inio teMa nd iba hau dinGu jra nw alaFa isa lab adKh ush abHa fiza badLa yya hAtt ockAzad Ka shm irRa wa lpin diMu ltan Name of Distirct%positiveindividual