High Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in the Age Range of 20-39 Years Old Individuals in Lome

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). It affects all women and men irrespective of age. Although sub-Saharan Africa is an area of high prevalence of this disease, data on the prevalence of acute and chronic HBV infections in this region remain to be widely documented. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HBV in relation to age in Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Campus (CHU-C), one of the two teaching hospitals of Lome, Togo. METHOD: The present study is a cross-sectional study about the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriage from 2009 to 2011. All study participants were screened for HBsAg at the Immunology laboratory of CHU Campus of Lome. RESULTS: One thousand two hundred individuals were screened for HBsAg from 2009-2011. The overall prevalence of HBV infection was 19.08%. This prevalence was significantly higher in men (25.00%) than women (14.80%). The highest prevalence of HBV was observed in age range of 20-29 years and 30-39 years with respectively 26.33% and 21.67%. The lowest prevalence was 6.08%, found in people over 50 years. Concerning the clinical indication of the test, the prevalence during the clinical abnormalities related to liver (CARL) was the highest (26.21%), followed by the systematic screening (SS) with 20.25% while the pre-operative assessment (POA) showed the lowest prevalence with 5.56%. CONCLUSION: The study shows the high prevalence of HBsAg carriage in young people. This could be used to enhance prevention and treatment of HBV infection in Togo.