An Assessment of the Prevalence of Hepatitis ...

An Assessment of the Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection among the Population of South Kashmir

Author Name : Faisal Nissar, Junaid, Pankaj Kaul, Arindam Adhikary, Zaffer Ahmad, Shahid Hassan, Ifshana Shafi

ABSTRACT The Hepadnaviridae family includes the small DNA virus that causes hepatitis B. Hepatitis B, a potentially lethal liver illness, is brought on by the hepatitis B virus. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) has a protein on its surface called hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).It is essential to the diagnosis of hepatitis B and a significant sign of a current infection. It's a serious worldwide health issue and affects almost 400 million people. In this study, the prevalence of HBV was assessed to understand the current scenario in Anantnag, J & K among the age group 18 -79 years from March 2024 –August 2024. The methodology included rapid antigen test and ELISA. A total of 300 samples were analyzed and the result suggested that the seropositivity of HBsAg was 2% of the total population which is at per with the National average. The study also indicated that ELISA test was more accurate in detecting HBsAg than Rapid antigen test