Comparative Study of Knowledge, Risk factors, and Prevalence of Hepatitis B virus Infection Among Donkey Butchers and Herders in Ebonyi state, Nigeria

Document Type : Original Clinical

Authors

1 Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki Ebonyi State, Nigeria

2 Department of Community Medicine, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki

3 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Nigeria

Abstract

Aims: The study compares the knowledge, risk factors, and prevalence of HBV infection among donkey butchers and herders in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Donkey butchers and herders comprise a high-risk population that can be controlled to minimize transmission of hepatitis B virus infection with its socioeconomic losses.
Subjects, Materials, & Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study among donkey butchers and herders in selected abattoirs in Ebonyi State. A systematic sampling method was used to select 125 respondents in each donkey handling group from 3 Local Government Areas of Ebonyi State. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents on knowledge and risk factors. Prevalence of HBV was measured by serological screening tests of respondents’ blood for identification of HBV surface antigen. Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS Statistics version 26.0.  The level of significance was set at p<0.05.
Results: There were poor grades of HBV knowledge among the two donkey handling groups (herders, 94.4%, and butchers, 87.2%, respectively). Risk factors for herders include cigarette smoking, drug addiction, and casual sexual intercourse, whereas only duration of stay was associated with the butchers’ handling group. The combined HBV prevalence of the donkey handling groups in Ebonyi State was 11.6%, donkey butchers 8.0%, and herders 15.2%. 
Conclusions: The study showed poor knowledge grades among the donkey butchers and herders. Some risk factors were associated and predictors of HBV transmissions. The high HBV prevalence among the donkey handling groups has apparent public health implications. 

Keywords

Footnotes. Peer-Reviewers: Amany Mohamed Abdallah (Assistant professor of community medicine), Marwa Shabana (Assistant professor of clinical pathology), Ahmed Abdelsameeh (professor of veterinary medicine). E- Editor: Salem Youssef Mohamed, Osama Ahmed Khalil, Mohamed Hassan Ali Emara. Copyright ©. This open-access article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution, or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited. The original publication in this journal is cited by accepted academic practice. No use, distribution, or reproduction is permitted, complying with these terms. Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent their affiliated organizations or those of the publisher, the editors, and the reviewers. Any product evaluated in this article or its manufacturer's claim is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate: The study has been ethically approved by the Research and Ethics Committee (REC) of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, Nigeria; they can be contacted at oujair@yahoo.com or by phone +23439558074 or +27854049650. Consent for publication: All patients included in this research gave written informed permission to publish the data contained within this study. Availability of data and materials: The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Funding: This study had no funding from any resource. Authors’ contributions The study was conceptualized and designed by all authors. Elom, Una, and Chika collected and compiled data. Elom and Una conducted the statistical analysis, while Una and Chika drafted the manuscript. Elom, Una, and Chika provided significant intellectual input throughout the project, contributing to comments and revisions. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

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