Survey the hepatitis B serologic markers in patients referred to the clinic of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences

Despite an effective vaccine against hepatitis B (HBV), infection with this virus is still one of the most common community-acquired infections. HBV infection is usually diagnosed using serological and virological parameters. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of hepatitis B serologic markers in patients referred to the clinic of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences during 2011-2012.
Blood was obtained from 3561patients and centrifuged. Blood serum was separated and kept at -20 °C until testing. The antigen and antibodies of hepatitis B virus were examined using ELISA method.
A total of 3561 persons were tested for HBsAg and the prevalence of hepatitis B was 3.08% for this population. The highest rate of HBsAg (60.9%) was for 40-21 year old and the lowest (0%) was in children under 10 years. In this study, 167 patients (4.5%) were tested for HbsAb. Of them 105 (63%) cases were positive which consisted of 57 (54.28%) women and 48 (45.71%) men.
The prevalence of HBV infection in the elderly and middle-aged people was more than youngers. It seems thah the prevalence of HBV infection after the national vaccination program for hepatitis B in children and adolescents has decreased in the community.