Epidemiology and Risk Factors of Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most common viruses in the modern world and ranked by the WHO as one of the top ten killers. It is responsible for approximately 1.5 million deaths worldwide each year, two thirds of which are attributable to primary hepatic carcinoma following HBV infection. Hepatitis B is preventable with a safe and effective vaccine, the first vaccine against cancer due to HBV infection. The prevalence of HBV infection varies from country to country and depends upon a complex mixture of behavioral, environmental and host factors. The knowledge of the prevalence of different markers of HBV in population helps in identifying risk groups and determining the means of prevention of the transmission. The aim of this work was to find out the prevalence of various HBV serological markers and to find out the association of HBV infection with various socio-demographic characteristics of study sample, and to detect a possible association of HBV infection with various risk factors.