Health authorities in Vietnam have taken various steps to control and manage HBV infection. It has been regarded as a priority disease in the National Health Plans. The purpose of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) in people aged 6 years old and over, in Thua Thien Hue Province. | JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, Hue University, N0 61, 2010 STUDY ON THE PREVALENCE OF HBsAg SEROPOSITIVITY IN PEOPLE IN THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE Ngo Viet Loc College of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University SUMMARY Hepatitis B infection is caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). About 400 million people across the world are chronically infected by the hepatitis B virus. Hepatitis B is a leading cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, accounting for 1 million deaths annually. In Asia, the rate of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriage in the general population ranges from 2% to 20%. The aim of this study were to determine the percentage of positive hepatitis B surface antigen of people aged 6 and over in Thua Thien Hue Province. Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted from 2006 to 2008, including 2,525 people aged 6 years and over who were living in four ecological areas of Thua Thien Hue Province: mountainous, low land, coastal and Hue city (urban). These people were detected the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) by enzyme immunoassay and interviewed by questionnaire. Results: The overall prevalence of the HBsAg positive was , analysis of sex in the group of HBsAg positive: the prevalence of HBsAg positive in females was higher than in males ( and ), HBsAg positive and age groups: the HBsAg positive prevalence was the highest in the age groups of 20 - 19 () and 31 - 40 (). HBsAg positive and occupation: the highest prevalence of HBsAg positive () was found among manual workers. HBsAg positive and ecological areas: The prevalence of HBsAg positive in coastal area was the highest (). Conclusion: The prevalence of the HBsAg positive of people aged 6 and over in Thua Thien Hue province was . Accordingly, public measures to control HBV infection are needed. Key word: Infection of HBV 1. Introduction Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global public health problem and it
