Journal of Rare Disorders: Diagnosis & Therapy

Prevalence, Knowledge and Practices of Hepatitis B and C Viruses among Patients Undergoing Surgery in Sulaimani City

Background: Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infections are considered important public health problems worldwide. Surgical procedures and dental treatment procedures in the health care setting are the important transmission mode of hepatitis B and C viruses.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections and to assess the knowledge and practices of patients undergoing surgery in Sulaimani city.

Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in Sulaimani city from the 1^st of February to 1^st of August 2015. Participants were evaluated using a structured questionnaire by face-to-face interview to measure the Knowledge and practices of HBV and HCV by using convenience sampling method.

Results: A total of 17182 patients from 7 hospitals were included in this study. HBsAg was positive in 127 (0.7%) of patients and anti-HCV positive was 76 (0.4%). While no positive cases of both HBsAg and anti-HCV together observed. Majority of participants (63.5%) had poor knowledge level and only 19% had a good knowledge level. Also 76.2% of respondents had poor practices level and only 1.3% was with good practices level.

Conclusions: The study demonstrates that there is low prevalence of HBV and HCV among patients undergoing surgery. Prevalence of HBsAg is more common than anti-HCV in the study population. This study observed that there is lack of knowledge and practices towards hepatitis B and C viruses among study population in our setting.

Author(s):

Ibrahem AM, Mohiadeen FA and Babakir-Mina M

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