ABSTRACT
A total of 331 serum samples collected from medical students, student nurses, microbiology students, and patients presenting with Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (PUO) were tested for the presence of Hepatitis B surface Antigen (HbsAg). While only seven (14.0%) of 50 microbiology students (mean age 24.0 years) tested positive for HbsAg, six (6.7%) of 89 student nurses (mean age 21.6 years) and 13 (13.5%) of 95 medical students (mean age 24.3 years) in the clinical phase of their study were found to have HbsAg in their sera. Also, 10 (10.3%) of 97 patients with PUO (mean age 25.4 years), a group of patients from whom medical personnel are most likely to often collect blood for laboratory studies, were found to have HbsAg in their sera. No significant difference was found in the prevalence of HbsAg among the different groups examined in this study (P>0.05). The result of the study thus shows that medical and nursing students, unlike what is known for practising nurses, physicians and surgeons are not at a higher risk of HBV transmission than students of botany and microbiology. Likewise, patients with PUO do not constitute a group that is more likely to transmit HBV to medical personnel than other groups of patients. Vaccination against hepatitis B virus during the early period of medical and nursing training may therefore go a long way to reduce the high prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection previously reported among practising health personnel in Nigeria.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/blood , Students, Health Occupations , Adolescent , Adult , Case-Control Studies , Female , Fever of Unknown Origin/blood , Humans , Male , NigeriaABSTRACT
Following an outbreak of serologically--and virologically--confirmed measles requiring large-scale hospitalisation of children in Ibadan, Nigeria, the herd immunity to measles virus among medical students and student nurses was determined. Of the 200 students tested, none lacked haemagglutination--inhibiting antibody to measles virus. The titre of HI--antibody ranged from 2(5) to 2(10). Describing a titre of 2(9) as very high, a significantly higher proportion of student nurses than medical students (P < 0.05) had very high antibody titres to measles virus. There was however no statistical difference between the sexes (P > 0.05). Using a commercial Enzyme Immuno Assay kit (EIA), anti measles IgM could not be detected from any of the students. Thus a clear evidence of recent infection with measles virus during the outbreak could not be detected among the students, a probable indication that student nurses and medical students may not participate in the maintenance of wild measles virus within the hospital environment in developing countries like Nigeria.
