Introduction: Hepatitis B infection is one of the major public health problems globally and is the 10th leading cause of death. Hepatitis B viral infection leads to a wide spectrum of clinical presentations, ranging from asymptomatic carrier state to acute self-limiting infection or fulminant hepatic failure, chronic hepatitis with progression to cirrhosis, and hepato cellular carcinoma. HBV infection may go undetected as it is asymptomatic in infants, children and immunodeficient individuals as pathogenesis of hepatitis is immune mediated. The majority of people are unaware of their HBV infection. Unawareness of an ongoing infection delays the diagnosis of HBV-related liver disease and favors the spread of the virus.
Materials and methods: The study was done from January 2015 to December 2015. After separation of serum from blood, HBsAg detection was done by immunochromatographic method. Results: A total of 23,457 cases were screened for HBsAg. More number of cases were from OBG department. Majority of cases were from the age group of 21-30 years. The overall seropositivity for HBsAg was 2.19%. In males seropositivity was high in the age group of 41-50 years (4.54%) followed by in 31- 40 yrs age group (3.41%). The seropositivity among males was more (3.13%) when compared to females (1.61%).
Conclusions: 1. Seroprevalence of HBsAg among hospital patients was 2.19% 2. Most common age group with HBsAg was 41-50 years (2.19%) 3. No seropositive case was present in the age group of <10 years.
