A study on awareness, occupational risk perception and level of vaccination against hepatitis-B among medical and nursing students in tertiary care hospital, Hyderabad

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONHepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a double-stranded, enveloped DNA virus of the Hepadnaviridae family. It is transmitted parenterally or permucosal exposure to infected blood or other body fluids. Hepatitis B is a serious infectious disease of the liver which affects millions of people worldwide. Chronic viral hepatitis is a major global public health problem, an important cause of morbidity and mortality from sequelae which include chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and primary liver cancer.1 India has intermediate endemicity of hepatitis B, with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) prevalence between 2% and 7%.2 HBV (Hepatitis B Virus) infection is an occupational hazard for health care workers and for public safety workers who have exposure to blood and blood products in the workplace and the risk of acquiring HBV infections depends on the frequency of percutaneous and ABSTRACT Background: HBV(Hepatitis B Virus) infection is an occupational hazard for health care workers and the risk of acquiring HBV infections depends on the frequency of percutaneous and permucosal exposure to blood or bloodcontaminated body fluids. Avoiding occupational blood exposure is primary preventive means for the transmission of HBV. However, the single most effective measure for the prevention of hepatitis B is active immunisation. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried among 204 medical and nursing students in second year of their course using pre-designed questionnaire comprised of questions which included age, sex, qualification, awareness, occupational risk perception & vaccination against hepatitis B infection. Results: 69.12% of the respondents knew various modes of transmission of hepatitis B. More than half (56.86%) of the respondents knew that HBV infection causes liver cancer. 79.41% of the respondents knew the correct course of action after a needle stick injury. Only 61.27% of the respondents knew that blood soaked cotton and dressings are discarded in yellow coloured bags and that sharps and needles are disposed in white coloured bags. Only 36.46% of medical students & 57.41% of nursing students were completely vaccinated. Conclusion: Considering the long-term consequences of HBV infection, the health of the study population is at risk. Preventive strategies against the diseases, especially vaccination programmes, should be developed and taken aggressively to improve the vaccination coverage among the study population.

Awareness of risk of infections to health care professionals and its preventive practices among medical students: a cross-sectional study

“…16 Only very few, 22% of our medical students knew various modes of transmission of hepatitis B contrary to which 85.42% of the respondents were aware of it in other similar study. 8 Blood transfusion, needle stick injury or other ways of infected blood contact as the route of transmission of hepatitis B infection was known by 94.7% of participants while sexual and vertical route by 41.1% and 32.6% respectively and similar results were seen in other studies. 8,17 Compared to ours, knowledge of sexual and vertical transmission was more than 70% in studies done by Singh at Ahmedabad and Al -Hazim.…”

“…8 Blood transfusion, needle stick injury or other ways of infected blood contact as the route of transmission of hepatitis B infection was known by 94.7% of participants while sexual and vertical route by 41.1% and 32.6% respectively and similar results were seen in other studies. 8,17 Compared to ours, knowledge of sexual and vertical transmission was more than 70% in studies done by Singh at Ahmedabad and Al -Hazim. 18,19 Knowledge about transmission of hepatitis B were well below expected levels in study done by Paul at Chennai.…”

“…17 Though 93.5% of the students believed that hepatitis B is preventable, only 84 -86% were aware of a vaccine for hepatitis B prevention in other studies which was similar to the response we noticed in our study wherein 95.8% respondents were aware of this preventive fact. 8,[17][18][19] However, only 73.4% of the participants were completely vaccinated against hepatitis B infection similar to other studies. 16,17 But very poor vaccination coverage of 36.46% and 52.2% was observed in another studies done in similar setting.…”

“…Majority of medical students (95.83%) in a study done by Pavani et al, opined that medical profession put health care professionals at risk of hepatitis B infection while 78.9% knew so in our study. 8 Only 68-73% of the medical students from a college in Hyderabad knew bio-medical waste management rules which says that all infective materials should be discarded in yellow colour bags and waste sharps and needles in white color bags; similarly 74.7% knew about bio-medical waste management in our study. 8 Hand washing reduces the incidence of health care associated infections was known to 71.3% of medical students in a study done by Tarek et al in Saudi Arabia while in our study most of the students (92%) were aware of it.…”

“…8 Only 68-73% of the medical students from a college in Hyderabad knew bio-medical waste management rules which says that all infective materials should be discarded in yellow colour bags and waste sharps and needles in white color bags; similarly 74.7% knew about bio-medical waste management in our study. 8 Hand washing reduces the incidence of health care associated infections was known to 71.3% of medical students in a study done by Tarek et al in Saudi Arabia while in our study most of the students (92%) were aware of it. 9 Even 82.1% of the medical students knew that used needles should not be recapped which was far more than our study result where only 32.6% knew it.…”