Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and its risk factors among individuals visiting Goba General Hospital, South East Ethiopia, 2012 (BMC Research Notes)

Background: Hepatitis B virus infection is a significant health problem. Approximately two billion people worldwide have chronic Hepatitis B virus infection and over one million die annually. Hepatitis B virus infection and Human Immunodeficiency Virus co-infection is an emerging concern in the clinical management of patients because of shared routes of transmission. Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study was performed from January to June, 2012 at Goba General Hospital. Socio-demographic and possible risk factors data from study subjects were collected using pre-test and structured questionnaire. Venous blood was collected and the serums were tested for Hepatitis B surface antigen and Human Immune Deficiency Virus using commercially available rapid test kits. Data were entered and analyzed using the SPSS software package (version15). Binary and multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated factors. A p-value of