Prevalence and Correlates of Hepatitis B Virus Infection among Health Care Workers in Kisumu County, Kenya: Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract/ Overview
Health care services in hospitals restore health and save life, they also produce medical waste which if poorly managed poses risk to health care workers (HCWs) through contacts and needle stick injuries. Hospital occupational exposure is a potential source of pathogens of global health concerns like Hepatitis B virus (HBV). HBV infection increases risk of death from liver cirrhosis and cancer. Globally, about 2 billion people have evidence of past or present HBV infection, and 240 million are chronic carriers. Pooled prevalence of HBV infection among HCWs in Kenya is 6.8%, while the prevalence in general population is 2-5% with about 31% of people being previously exposed. Due to the unknown magnitude and risk factors of HBV infection among HCWs in Kisumu, this descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the prevalence and correlates of HBV infections among HCWs; determine prevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), total hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs); determine HBV infection risk factors, needle stick injury, contact exposure, HBV immunization status and uptake, infectious waste segregation and disposal, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) availability and adequacy; determine number of HCWs who have been trained on usage of PPEs, infectious agent on waste, waste management and determine the relationship between HBV infection verses sociodemographic and risk factors among HCWs. A sample size of 192 was selected from total 823 HCWs. structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic and risk factors information. From each consenting participants, 4.0ml of blood was collected to determine participants HBV sero-status. Testing for HBsAg, anti-HBc and anti-HBs biomarkers were done serially using enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method at Kenya medical Research Institute-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Research Laboratory. Participant median age was 34.4 years with interquartile range of 11(28-39) years, majorities were male 52.1% and 78.7% of participants were married. Among the 192HCWs in this study, prevalence of HBV infection (positive for HBsAg) was 36 (18.8%), prevalence of anti HBc (developed immunity because of natural infection) was 49 (25.5%) and prevalence of anti HBs (developed immunity after vaccination) was 72 (37.5%). There were 34 (17.7%) susceptible HCWs (never infected and had no evidence of immunization). Higher prevalence of HBV infections at 37.5% and 35.9% was found in HCWs who had worked for less than one year and those who had not received any dose of HBV vaccine respectively. Among the HCWs, 47.4% and 5.7% had needle stick injury and contact exposure at workplace. PPEs availability and adequacy at 90.6 and 22.4 respectively. Medical waste was not adequately segregated and incinerated at 29.7% and 67.2% respectively. Significant risk of exposure to HBV infection was found among HCWs with one vaccine dose and those with no known exposure. HCWs who had received ≥2 doses of HBV vaccine (aOR, 0.03; 95% CI,0.01-0.10, p-value= <0.0001) had significant HBV protection. Prevalence of HBsAg and anti HBc among HCWs in this study was about 6 and 5-fold higher than general population, this could be attributed to high needle stick injury contact exposure and low vaccination coverage. There should be increased surveillance on HAI like HBV infections to identify and refer infected HCWs for clinical management, more sensitization is required on HBV vaccination to improve HBV vaccine uptake among HCWs. Additional studies are required to determine effect of HBV vaccine availability on vaccine coverage and uptake; causes, effects, and prevalence of isolated anti-HBc among healthcare workers and clustering pattern of HBV infections among HCWs.