Seroprevalence of hepatitis b, c and HIV among patients attending a multispecialty hospital: An 8 year old retrospective study

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Abstract
Background: Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV infection are serious global health problems. Many risk behaviors as well as the routes of transmission for HBV and HCV infections are identical to those for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. They are considered as occupational risk for dental professionals and other health care workers of getting HIV, HBV or HCV infection from an infected patient and the potential transmission to susceptible patients from infected dental personnel. Due to lack of knowledge regarding the prevalence of these viral diseases among the local populations, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV by detecting the presence of HBV antigen (HBsAg) and HCV antibodies (HCV-Ab) and HIV antibodies (HIV-Ab) and the relation of their presence with other factors such as gender and age among dental patients visiting a tertiary care teaching hospital in Moradabad city in Uttar Pradesh. Materials and Methods: Case records of a total of 3000 patients were included whose serum was screened using Rapid card diagnostic kits using standard recommended procedure. HIV TRI-DOT for HIV antibodies, HEPACARD for HBsAg and HCV TRI-DOT for HCV antibodies. All rapid test positive samples were further tested by a third-generation Enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Data was analyzed and put for statistical analysis. Results: The overall seroprevalence of the HIV, HBV and HCV increased over the eight year period by approximately 5%. A statistical significant difference in prevalence of HIV, HCV and HBV in male and females was obtained. A high seropositivity was prevalent in the age group of 30-40 years. Conclusion: The sero frequency of HIV, hepatitis B and C was high among patients especially from rural population visiting the tertiary health care hospital that usually go unnoticed leading to cross infection. Thus proper history taking, diagnostic tests and sterilization protocols can minimize and prevent these dreadful blood borne infections from spreading.