Background: Viral hepatitis is a serious public health problem with hepatitis B virus (HBV) being one of its principle causes affecting billions of people globally. The laboratory diagnosis of HBV infection is made by detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in serum.
Objective: The present study was done to evaluate the seroprevalence of hepatitis B infection among patients attending a hospital at a semi-urban North India using rapid immunoassay test kit.
Materials and methods: A total of 1537 patients were included in the study whose venous blood samples were collected, and serum was tested for the presence of HBsAg using a rapid one-step immunoassay test kit.
Results: Out of 1537 patients whose blood samples were tested, 61 were found to be reactive to HBsAg giving the prevalence to be 3.9%, with 49 males and 12 females. Out of 61 reactive patient's majority belonged to inpatient (82.0%) as compared to outpatient department (18.0%). The majority of the reactive patients belonged to age group 28-37 years (37.7%), belonged to rural areas (86.9%), were illiterate (67.2%), were skilled workers (63.9%) and belonged to socioeconomic Class 4 (50.8%). Among the reactive patients, the most frequent suspected risk factor for hepatitis B infection was found to be visiting a community barber (19.7%).
Conclusion: HBV infection is a dreadful disease, and its accurate and timely diagnosis using rapid immunoassay test kit is useful as it gives an indication about its seroprevalence in a given geographical area even with limited resources.