Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C Among Healthcare Workers in a Tertiary Care Center in Monrovia Liberia

BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis is a leading cause of death worldwide, with a higher mortality rate than that from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB) or malaria. In order to meet the WHO’s goal of eliminating hepatitis B and C by 2030, there is a dire need to establish baseline prevalence rates and increase public health awareness of this detrimental disease, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) where establishing prevalence rates of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis (HCV) continues to be a problem. OBJECTIVE: To establish baseline rates of hepatitis B and C among healthcare workers at the national medical center of Liberia. METHODS: Between October 2017 to 2018 we performed a prospective study to determine rates of hepatitis B and hepatitis C among healthcare workers at John F. Kennedy (JFK) Medical Center, the national medical center of Liberia. All healthcare workers were offered one-time point of care hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis C antibody testing. FINDINGS: Two hundred forty-five participants were tested for hepatitis B and C. 15 participants (6.12%) tested positive for hepatitis B [95% CI, 3.47%, 9.90%]. Eleven of the fifteen (73.3%) participants received confirmatory hepatitis B profile testing, and eight (72%) of those were found to be chronic hepatitis B carriers. No participants tested positive for hepatitis C Ab. CONCLUSION: Our finding of a greater than 5% prevalence rate, during first line testing, of chronic hepatitis B among health care workers, should help fuel efforts for national testing, vaccination, and treatment efforts in order to align with the WHO goals of elimination of hepatitis B and C by 2030.