BACKGROUND
Despite high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in adults in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Lao healthcare workers (HCWs) were previously been shown to have low levels of protection against infection. Furthermore, the prevalence of hepatitis D virus (HDV; which increases disease severity in HBV infected individuals) is not known in Lao PDR.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the exposure, vaccination status and seroprotection against HBV as well as exposure to HDV in Lao healthcare workers from five provinces
METHODS
In 2020, 666 HCWs aged 20-65 years old from five provinces of the Lao PDR were recruited and sera were tested by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine their HBV and HDV co-infection status.
RESULTS
HBV exposure, as indicated by the presence of anti-HB core (anti-HBc) antibodies, was 40% overall and significantly higher for HCWs from Oudomxay province (67.7%, P=.001). The seroprevalence of HBsAg was 5.4% overall and increased with age from 3.6% in those aged ≤ 30 years to 6.8% in those aged ≥ 50 years. Only 28.7% of participants had serological indication of immunization. We could find no evidence for HDV exposure in the current study.
CONCLUSIONS
We recommend strengthening the national vaccination program for HCWs and implementing pre-employment testing.