Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among medical waste handlers in a tertiary care and Teaching Hospital Lahore

Aim: to determine the prevalence of hepatitis b infection in medical waste handlers. period: april,2015 to may,2016 settings: department of pathology,microbiology section,continental medical college lahore,attached with ch. rehmat ali memorial trust teaching hospital. methods: a total of 50 subjects were included in this study. 5ml venous blood samples were collected,centrifuged and elisa test was performed using plasma according to the kit instructions for the detection of hbsag. results: out of these 50 samples 6 were positive for hbsag. thus 12% were positive for hepatitis b infection. this is quite high prevalence and is worrisome. conclusion: hepatitis b is significantly high among hospital waste management workers. this is a quite scary situation that we have high prevalence of hep b among hospital waste handlers. there are multiple reasons behind this. most of our workers have no formal and professional education. there is lack of training and made them learn new methodologies and techniques for waste disposal.