Sero-prevalence of hepatitis B surface (HBsAg) antigen in three densely populated communities in Kumasi, 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. Re-ports are scanty on the seroprevalence of hepatitis B-virus in densely populated suburbs in Kumasi, Ghana. This study was conducted in three densely populated communities in Kumasi to determine the relative seroprevalence of hepatitis B. Serum samples were collected in 2009 during a cross-sectional survey of individuals from Aboabo, Tafo and Garrison and tested for HBsAg using a commercial test kit (One Step HBsAg Test Device, InTEC Products, INC, China) after obtaining their informed consent. A total of 783 subjects (mean age: 37.93 ± 0.62) had their samples collected for testing. There were 376 females and 407 males. A higher prevalence of HBsAg seropositivity was detected among the males (11.79%) as compared to the females (5.33%). Prevalence of sero-positivity was highest among adolescents (19-24 years, 14.14%; 25-34 years, 13.10%) and children (<19 years, 12.26%) and lowest among the aged >54 years old. Of all the three sub-populations sampled, only Garrison was determined to be in the intermediate endemicity class for HBsAg (6.78%); both Aboabo (9.02%) and Tafo (10.0%) are in the high endemicity class. However, overall prevalence of HBsAg seropositivity was 8.68%. Our study suggests that in Ghana, local prevalence of the disease may vary widely, possibly as a consequence of lifestyle and socioeconomic variations even in closely related settlements.Keywords: Hepatitis, Sero-prevalence, densely populated communities, Kumasi Journal of Medical and Biomedical Sciences (2012) 1(2), 59-65