Seropositive HBsAg frequency in Karachi and interior Sindh, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Viral hepatitis continues to be a major health problem in Pakistan which encourages appraisal of the current ferquency of HBV surface antigenemia. A total of 35,257 individuals of both sexes presenting at a private diagnostic lab and its branches in key areas of Karachi City were screened for HBsAg during an 8-year period ending June 30, 2006. Also evaluated were 1,776 blood samples collected from residents of Hyderabad, Khairpur, Larkana, Nawabshah, and Sukkur in Sindh province.Detection of HBsAg in all serum samples as a marker of HBV was done using the Roche COBAS CORE HBsAg-II EIA system. A total of 1,735 HBsAg positive cases [4.92%] were detected in those assessed in Karachi, and 39 [2.19%] in the individuals tested in parts of interior Sindh. The youngest seropositive subject was a male 3-month old infant, the eldest a 70-year old man; the majority of carriers [78.9%] were aged 16-49 years, and 70.8% of those testing positive in Karachi were male, as were 69.2% in other Sindh cities. HBsAg positivity in Karachi has steadily increased in frequency in our hands from 2.84% in 1998 to currently 4.92%. A significant majority of those positive in all age groups were male in gender warrants deliberation on the credible modes of infection, including homosexuality