FREQUENCY OF HEPATITIS B & C VIRAL INFECTIONS AMONGST STUDENTS OF A MEDICAL SCHOOL OF ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The increased frequency of Hepatitis B and C viral infections is considered to be amongst the very important health issues. Therefore, the current study has been planned to assess the frequency of specific diseases in adult age group medical students. It was a Descriptive study, carried out on 151 medical students of Al-Nafees Medical College and Hospital, Islamabad. A convenient sampling technique was adopted for the proceedings of study. Informed consent followed by a questionnaire filling was the important prerequisites of study. This was to get adequate information regarding the presence of any predisposing factor and subclinical presentation. The data was finally analyzed by SPSS version 16. For qualitative variables frequency of specific infection was calculated in terms of percentages. While for specific age group, quantitative variables i.e. mean and standard deviation were calculated. The results of current study have shown 0.66% (n=1) hepatitis C viral infection (HCV) and 0% (n=0) hepatitis B viral infection (HBV). The study concluded that, the frequency of both HBV and HCV infection was found to be very less than that expected. This study suggests that the National preventative programs and strategies against both HBV and HCV are successful.