Epidemiological Study on Hepatitis B Virus Infections among Hemodialysis Patients in Taiz City, Yemen

Viral hepatitis has a special relationship to renal disease. Prevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is high among renal failure patients compared to prevalence in the general population. HBV is highly infectious and transmitted from person to person via blood transfusions, sexual, and vertical routes. Recently, this virus is a common nosocomial problem and the cause of morbidity and mortality among hemodialysis (HD) patients because of the complications in the management of patients in the dialysis units.

Hemodialysis patients are at high risk of infection by hepatitis B (HBV), Chronic infections with HBV may lead to liver cirrhosis, hepatic failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HBV infections among HD patients at dialysis center in Republic Hospital and Thawrah Hospital in Taiz City, Yemen.

A total of 200 patients were the sample of the study. The following data was collected: name, age, gender, occupation, education, family history of HD and family members. Blood samples were collected and screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) techniques. The overall prevalence of HBV infection has been found to be 30%.

Among 200 patients, 113 (56.5%) were males and 87(43.5%) were females, this study showed that male HD patients had slightly higher HBV prevalence than females (30.97%, 28.74%) respectively.

The present work shows the highest HBV seroprevalence was among age group 16-20 years (50%). The results of study showed that single groups of hemodialysis patients have higher HBV seroprevalence, the results of study showed that secondary level of study groups of hemodialysis patients have higher HBV seroprevalence, the current study showed that family relationship groups, have a higher seroprevalence of HBV infection was among the aunts.

This study has concluded that HBV infection among HD patients represents a serious nosocomial health problem in the dialysis units in standard centers. So, strict adherence to infection control is required to prevent the prevalence of hepatitis infections.