Author(s)

Mohammed A. Al-Hegami¹, Abdullah Al-Mamari^2*, Abdulrahman S. Al-Kadasse³, Fadhl A. S. Al-Gasha’a⁴, Sadeq Al-Hag², Adel A. S. Al-Hegami⁵

¹Department of Science, Faculty of Education, Sana’a University, Sana’a, Yemen Republic.
²Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Ibb University, Ibb, Yemen Republic.
³Department of Biological Sciences, Al-Hodeidah University, Al-Hodeidah, Yemen Republic.
⁴Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Ibb University, Ibb, Yemen Republic.
⁵Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Sana’a University, Sana’a, Yemen Republic.

Background and Aims: Patients on hemodialysis (HD) are at high risk of viral hepatitis due to high number of blood transfusion sessions, prolonged vascular access, high exposure to infected patients and contaminated equipment, or cross contamination from the dialysis circuits and pose problems in the management of patients in the renal dialysis units. This study was done to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) & Hepatitis C virus (HCV), in patients on hemodialysis in Zabeed City, Yemen Republic, and address the major risk factors for transmission of these viruses among HD patients. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, during June, 2013 to October, 2014, a total of 243 chronic hemodialysis patients were tested. Patients were selected from many regions by cluster sampling from Zabeed public hospital, (hemodialysis center) in Zabeed City, Yemen Republic. A close ended and multiple choice-based questionnaires were completed and HBsAg and anti-HCV antibodies were assessed using third generation enzyme linked immunoassay kit as serological testing and data were analyzed using the SPSS-20 software. Results: The overall prevalence of positive HBsAg was (48.83%) while positive anti-HCV was (46.01%) and (5.16%) mixed infection with HBV and HCV. Analysis of risk factors in patients with HBV & HCV infection is showed the history of blood transfusion and duration of hemodialysis was found to be a statistically significant (P < 0.05) as risk factor for HBV and HCV infection. Conclusion: The evaluation suggests that blood transfusion and duration of hemodialysis may be the main most important risk factor for HBV and HCV infection among hemodialysis patients.

HBV, HCV, Hemodialysis, Zabeed City, Yemen Republic

A. Al-Hegami, M. , Al-Mamari, A. , S. Al-Kadasse, A. , Al-Gasha’a, F. , Al-Hag, S. and Al-Hegami, A. (2015) Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Virus Infections among Patients with Chronic Renal Failure in Zabeed City, Yemen Republic. Open Journal of Medical Microbiology, 5, 136-142. doi: 10.4236/ojmm.2015.53017.