Detection of HBs-Ags in sera of hepatitis B virus infected patients

Abstract

Objective and background: this study is aiming to evaluate the prevalence of HBV among patients attending AL-Ramadi Hospital for cases of hepatitis HBV is worldwide distributed and it is the etiological agent of acute and chronic liver disease in human. Two hundred and ninety four serum samples were the subject of this study in which each serum sample was subjected to two well-known serological methods for detection of HBs-Ag i.e. Health mate and HBs-Ag ELISA kits. Out of the total number (294) of serum samples it has been found that 96 serum were positive (32.7%) for HBs-Ag while 198 serum were negative (67.4%). It has been found also that HBs-Ag were higher in male (40.8%) than female (26.6%) in age group of 21-30 years of age. It is concluded that HBV is prevalent in age group less than 20 years (32.7%) while it is least in age group > 60 years (4.4%) and that age and gender can be considered as two important risk factors in acquiring HBV.

Keywords

HBV, HBs-Ag, HBs-Ab.