Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C Infections among Pregnant Women at Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital Lafia, Nasarawa State Nigeria

Abstract

Hepatitis infections are global public health concern more especially hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections which can easily be transmitted from mothers to newborn babies through contact with body secretions. This research was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Viral Hepatitis B and C infections among pregnant women in Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital Lafia, Nasarawa State. Cross sectional study design was carried out from January 2017 to December 2017 among 374 pregnant women. Blood sample was collected from each pregnant woman and screened using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit produced by Nantong Diagnos Biotechnology Co., Ltd., China. Overall prevalence infections of viral hepatitis B and C among the participant was 35(9.4%) and 18(4.8%) respectively. Hepatitis B prevalence was higher than Hepatitis C (P>0.05). Some of the pregnant women were found to be multi-gravida patients ranged from 20-29 years of age with prevalence of 9.6% HBV and 5.1% HCV (P> 0.05). The findings of this research suggest need to initiate public awareness to reduce disease load and transmission; immunization to all pregnant women and their newborn babies.