RESUMO
Background:Infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) can lead to a range of clinical illnesses. Hepatitisis a general term meaning inflammation of the liver and the most common cause is infection with a variety of different viruses. All of these can cause an acute disease and symptoms lasting several weeks includingyellowing of the skin and eyes; dark urine; extreme fatigue; nausea; vomiting and abdominal pain.Aim:This study examined the prevalence of sero-epidemiologic markers of hepatitis B virus (HBV)among health care workers (HCWs) in Public Teaching Hospitals in Khartoum State; in the year 2004. Itattempted to determine the relation of the past medical history of blood transfusion; surgical operation;vaccination against HBV; cutter scar and tattoo with HBV infection among HCWs.Method:The study is anobservational; cross sectional; facility-based study. It was conducted on stratified two-stage cluster randomsample of 843 subjects. The study followed multivariate analytical techniques; using Multiple DiscriminantAnalysis (MDA); and some non-parametric tests using Chi-square test results:Among the 843 subjectstested for all HBV markers (Anti-HBc; HBsAg; HBsAb; and HBeAg); the prevalence of Anti-HBc; HBsAg;HBsAb; and HBeAg was found to be 57 (CI95:53-60); 6 (CI95:4.0-8.0); 37 (CI95:34-40) and 9 (CI95:7-11) respectively. The prevalence rate differs according to past medical historyfactors. Significant association of past medical history factors was found with seroprevalence of HBsAgmarkers (P0.05). No significant association was found with any of the past medical history factors forseroprevalence of Anti-HBc and HBeAg and HBsAb markers (P0.05).Conclusion:Tattooing and itsduration had shown significant result with HBsAg