Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B Virus in the Adentan Municipality of the Greater Accra Region Of Ghana

Abstract

Hepatitis B infection is endemic in many developing countries including Ghana. It is also known that there are  differences in  the  prevalence in  communities of  different  socioeconomic levels.  This  study  was conducted in a suburb of Accra to determine the relative seroprevalence of hepatitis B. Serum samples were collected between January and February 2015 during a cross-sectional survey of individuals from Adenta and tested for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) using a commercial test kit (One Step HBsAg Test Device, InTEC Products, INC, China) after obtaining their informed consent. A total of 240 subjects had their samples collected for testing. There were 140 males and 100 females. A higher prevalence of HBsAg seropositivity was detected among the males as compared to the females. Majority of the participants were knowledgeable of the virus but most had not been vaccinated against the virus due to the high cost of the vaccine. In general, the seroprevalence of HBsAg was found to be low within the community.

Keywords: Seroprevalence, HBsAG, Vaccine, Seropositive