Prevalence of viral and non viral hepatitis in the Menoua division, West region, Cameroon: Retrospective study

CaHReF 20116, Yaoundé Conges hall, 23 – 26 August 2016 , PL039

There is a critical lack of information about the prevalence of hepatitis in Cameroon.The present study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of viral and non-viral hepatitis in the Menoua division.
This retrospective study was based on records of 5290 patients (2857women and 2433men) obtained from 6 health centres in Menoua. It covered the period between January 2008 and June 2014. Targeted subjects were patients who have been screened for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) & Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies by enzyme linked immune absorbent assay (ELISA) or who have been prescribed a blood transaminase assay.

X2-test was used to find the significance difference. 

The number of screened cases in Menoua increased with time, from 631 patients in 2008 to 1070 patients in June 2014. Out of 5290 patients screened, 502 and 291 suffered respectively from Hepatitis B and C, making a global prevalence of 14.99%. However, there was no significant variation of the annual prevalence between 2008 and 2014. The most affected patients were women (15.50%) and the most afflicted persons were 70-80 years old patients (46.75%). Dschang was the most affected sub-division amongst the six sub-divisions screened in the Menoua division, with a significantly high prevalence of 18.2% (p<0.05). It’s worth notice that, out of the 793 infected patients, 6 were co-infected with hepatitis B and C. Of the patients who underwent both the transaminase and the viral serology tests, 14.55% had a normal transaminase level and a negative serology; 14.28% had a normal transaminase level and a positive serology; 15.58% had a high level of transaminase and a positive serology while 38.46% had a high level of transaminase and a negative serology.
These results clearly indicates that hepatitis is a serious life threatening disease that has to be tackle with all necessary efforts. In addition, many other non-viral factors are responsible for liver necrosis. Since the disease can be acquired from viral infection or others as indicated in the result, more efforts have to be done for a better prevention, to improve diagnostic and clinical managements of hepatitis.

Prevalence, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Transaminase, Menoua division, Cameroon