Hepatitis B Virus serological test among nurses working in Dental teaching hospitals in Khartoum State

Abstract

Background:  Health care workers including dental nurses are more prone to infection by hepatitis B virus.

Objective: to assess Hepatitis B virus serological test profile among the dental nurses working in teaching dental hospitals in Khartoum state.

Materials and Methods: across sectional study   among 127dental nurses working in teaching hospitals in Khartoum state, a total coverage was recruited, 21of the nurses fulfilled the inclusion criteria, 19 persons from the administrative staff were selected as comparative group. Each participant filled a questionnaire and 3ml of blood was extracted for hepatitis B profile test.

Results: According to the types of work 14 (73.68%) of the  nurses were  assistant staff, one (5.26%)  working in sterilization room, and 4 (21.05%) worked for both. Comparing the result of the test, 16 (76.2%) of the involved nurses were susceptible, 2 (9.5%) were immune due to infection, 2 (9.5%) were immune due to vaccination, and 1(4.8%) with resolved infection, while in comparative group 13 (81.3%) were susceptible, 2 (12.5%) were immune due to infection, 0 immune due to vaccination and 1(6.3%) due to resolved infection. , five nurses were positive to at least one marker in comparison to 3 controls, difference was not statistically significant (p=0.517).Three nurses (14.28%) were current smokers.

Conclusion: The prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among dental nurses was low. There was no significant relation between type of work, duration of work and smoking status with the exposure of hepatitis B virus infection.

Keywords: dental nurses, hepatitis BV, tobacco status.