Abstract
Background: Hepatitis B infection is caused by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) which is transmitted via exposure to infected blood and body fluids. The risk of contracting hepatitis B infection, has been recognized as an occupational risk for health care practitioners (HCP) due to their exposure prone nature of work. Since proper vaccination can prevent HBV infection, complete hepatitis B vaccination is strongly recommended for health-care personnel, including medical students and students of other health professions.
Aims and Objective: This study was undertaken with an aim to evaluate the knowledge regarding Hepatitis B infection, its prevention and immunisation status among medical students.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire based study was conducted among 127 medical students. The questionnaire had three parts for socio-demographic data, questions with reference to Hepatitis B and regarding hepatitis B immunization status.
Results: The response rate was 94.77%. The knowledge scores as assessed by the second part of the questionnaire revealed that all the participants had fair to good knowledge with reference to the disease, transmission, sources of infection, and prevention of infection. The number of students that were completely vaccinated, partially vaccinated and unvaccinated was 59(46.45%),45 (35.43%) and 23 (18.11%) respectively.
Conclusion: The medical students had fairly adequate knowledge regarding the disease and its prevention but the vaccination practices among them were not satisfactory. This demonstrates a huge gap between knowledge and practice among students which needs to be addressed by health awareness and Hepatitis B vaccination programs in medical colleges.
Keywords: Knowledge, Hepatitis B, vaccination, medical students.
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Corresponding Author
Dr Nida Nowreen
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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i4.151
