ASSESSMENT OF THE PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS AMONG APPARENTLY HEALTHY LOOKING STUDENTS IN A TERTIARY INSTITUTION IN BENUE STATE

Hepatitis B virus is a serious global public health problem and is endemic in Africa including Nigeria. This research on Hepatitis B was carried out to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus among Students in a tertiary institution in Benue State. 250 students from various faculties were examined for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) using MICROPOINT HBsAg Gold Rapid Screen Test kit with specificity of 97% and sensitivity of 99% for the qualitative detection of HBsAg in whole blood. The overall prevalence of Hepatitis B in this study was found to be 4.80%. Results obtained showed that infection in relation to age was highest between the ages of 21-25 and 26-29 and lowest between the ages of 15-20 and 30 and above. Faculty of Art had the highest prevalence with three (3) students positive for Hepatitis B (1.2%) while faculty of law had the least prevalence with 1(0.4%) student positive for the virus. Chi-square analysis shows that there is no relationship between age of students and Hepatitis B as p>0.05 (p=0.53) Infection in relation to sex was highest in males. Statistical analysis using chi-square showed that Hepatitis B virus was not significant with respect to sex as P value was greater than 0.05 (p=0.202). Risk factors of accident and alcoholism were also not significant as P>0.05 while that of immunization was statistically significant as P=0.05.The prevalence of HBV is low among the students in the tertiary institution studied, however every student is at a risk of the infection irrespective of age or gender, therefore definite preventive measures should be adopted so as to reduce the spread of the virus.