Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia among high risk groups in northeastern Nigeria

Hepatitis B Virus infection is ranked the 10th leading cause of death worldwide. Mortality and morbidity attributable to it in the hyper-endemic sub Saharan African nations such as Nigeria is unarguably high. We postulated that the sero-prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is uneven across sex, age groups and  perceived risks. We determined the HBsAg among six defined groups stratified as low risk (Age < 10 years), average risk (Pregnant antenatal care attendee), moderate risk (parturient women, STD clinic attendee) and high risk (commercial sex workers, CSW and long truck drivers). A total of 838 subjects from birth to age 56 years were screened for HBsAg using an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) technique. The overall prevalence was 16.5%. It was higher in males (25.6%) than females (13.5%) (p <0.001). The seroprevalence rate was highest among children aged < 10 years with 25%. Parturient women and long truck drivers had a similar  seroprevalence of 23.3% and 23.2% respectively. STD clinic attendee had 17.4%, while Antenatal care attendee had 11.3%. CSW had the least seroprevalence rate of 8%. Seroprevalent rate decreased with age (p=0.023), but it increased with parity = 4. Fifteen motherchild pairs (out of the 73 mother-child pairs) had HBsAg positive; mother-child concordance for HBsAg of 20.5%. Hepatitis B virus infection is  common, and it is of hyperendemic magnitude in our environment. Although it commoner among children, it is likely acquired horizontally. This finding underscores the need for early childhood vaccination. Advocacy on discouraging prevalent  harmful traditional practices such as genital mutilation, circumcision, cupping and tribal mark using unsterilized instruments and paraphernalia is expedient in our environment.