Seroprevalencia de hepatitis viral B en estudiantes universitarios en Abancay, Perú

to determine the prevalence of serological markers of viral hepatitis b in university students of the city of abancay, we performed a cross-sectional study on 240 students from three universities, from january to october 2010. informed consent was requested to every student, an epidemiological record was filled, and a venous blood sample was drawn to determine the presence of hbsag, total anti - hbcag, anti - hbe, hbeag and igm anti - hbc by elisa. a prevalence of 2.5% (six positive samples) was found for hbsag and of 28.3% (68 positive samples) for anti - hbcag antibodies. the male sex was associated with the presence of anti - hbcag (or = 2.0, 95% ci, 1.2 to 3.6). we did not found hbeag or igm anti - hbc, however, the 6 hbsag carriers were anti - hbe positive. in conclusion hepatitis b infection is still a public health problem in abancay, with a significant prevalence in university students