Browsing by Author "Sebesbe, Wasihun"

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    Magnitude of hepatitis B and C viruses’ infection, knowledge, attitude and practice on the disease among flying cabin crew of Ethiopian Airline group, Ethiopia
    (Addis Abeba University, 2020-07) Sebesbe, Wasihun; Desta, Kassu(MSc, PhD fellow, Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology and Laboratory Sciences); Abera, Dessie ( MSc)
    Back ground: World health organization reported that an estimated 1.4 million deaths occur per year from acute infection and hepatitis-related liver cancer and cirrhosis. This is at comparable to that of HIV and tuberculosis, placing a large number of travelers at risk of both HBV and HCV infections worldwide. With the rise in international travel over the last three decades, many travelers are at risk of HBV and HCV infection. Flying cabin crews are considered to be international traveler. Objective: To assess the magnitude of Hepatitis B and C Virus, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Hepatitis B and C virus infection among flying cabin crew of Ethiopian airline group. Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study among 411 flying cabin crew of Ethiopian airline group was conducted from December 2019 to May2020. The KAP towards HBV and HCV was gathered using structured questionnaire. About four ml of venous blood sample using SS tubes was collected. And rapid screening test for both HBsAg and anti-HCV Ab Ab was performed from serum sample. Furthermore, positive samples by the rapid screening test were confirmed by using a confirmatory enzyme linked immune sorbent assay test. Finally, the data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 25.v. statistical software. Results: The magnitude of HBsAg among flying cabin crew of Ethiopian Airline group was 0.49 %( n=2/411) but there were no cases positive for anti-HCV Ab (n=0/411).Overall mean score of knowledge towards HBV and HCV was found to be 7.84 ± 1.10while that of attitude was 8.38 ± 1.10. Regarding to practice, 23.8% (98/411) of the participants were exposed to blood and/or body fluids of others, but only 20.2% of them get vaccinated. Conclusion: According to this study, the magnitude of HBsAg and anti-HCV Ab among flying cabin crew of Ethiopian airline was low. Even though the magnitude is low, 23.8 % of them occupationally exposed to blood and/or body fluid of others. But only a fifth of them vaccinated. Since they are occupationally exposed for infection, continuing providing proper personal protective equipments, applying standard precautions and vaccinated all cabin crews should be the most crucial things.