Hepatitis B prophylaxis practice among medical students : An overview

Healthcare personnel, especially medical students, represent a high risk population for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection. Hepatitis B is the most important infectious occupational hazard which Indian medical students and healthcare workers (HCWs) encounter. The medical students and HCWs all over the world do not practice universal precautions on a routine basis and there exists the widely prevalent problem of under reporting of percutaneous and mucocutaneous exposures and a lack of awareness about the disease transmission, its consequences and the importance of adhering to universal precautions at all times. This further compounds the issue of safety of student HCWs. This article highlights the dismal scenario vis-ΰ-vis awareness about these risks and HBV prophylaxis amongst medical students from a student's perspective and suggests how to tackle the situation to protect the unfortunate medical students from an unwarranted predicament.