A study of seroprevalence and determinants of HIV and HBsAg among antenatal mothers in tertiary and secondary care hospital at Bareilly.

ABSTRACT

Background: HIV and Hepatitis B are devastating diseases causing serious global public health problems and are rampant in this part of the country. Risk of vertical transmission occurs in a large number of cases in the absence of immunoprophylaxis. About 30% of world’s population has serological evidence of current or past infection with HBV. Detection of carriers is important in control of infections of this magnitude, failure of which may result in serious complications. Aims & Objective: To study of seroprevalence & determinants of HIV and HBsAg among antenatal mothers in tertiary & secondary care hospitals at Bareilly. Material and Methods: The study was conducted at the Department of Pathology & Microbiology, Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly. All patients attending Antenatal OPD of a Tertiary and secondary care hospitals, over a period of three years were assessed by subjecting them to serological tests for detection of HIV & HBsAg. Data was extensively analyzed and compared. Results: A total of 30,162 patients attended antenatal OPD during the study period, of which 20,699 were tested for HIV and 20,941 were tested for HBsAg. Of these, 12 (0.058%) were positive for HIV and 37 (0.18%) were positive for HBsAg. Conclusion: We studied the dynamics of HIV and Hepatitis B Virus transmission among pregnant women and the factors responsible for its spread to help us take plausible interventions to prevent vertical transmission. The seroprevalence of HIV & HBsAg was low, nonetheless posing a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Prevalence of HIV is found to be low, but it cannot actually be determined due to a very high refusal rate.