Hepatitis B infection in prisons in Liaoning province

ObjectiveTo investigate the current status of hepatitis B infection in prison in Liaoning province. MethodsA total of 4372 prisoners and 353 prison warders from five randomly selected prisons in Liaoning province were surveyed. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect serum HBV markers. ResultsThe HBsAg positive rate in the surveyed population was 8.37%, with 8.66% for prisoners and 5.10% for prison warders. The rate of HBsAg carrier in the population in these prison was close to or lower than that of the general population in Liaoning province, which had no statistical difference (I/Isup2/sup= 0.81, IP/I＞ 0.05). No statistical significant difference was found on the HBsAg detection rate among prisoners by age groups; however, statistical significant difference was found on the HBsAg detection rate among prison warders by age groups (I/Isup2/sup= 44.85, IP/I＜0.05), and the difference had no statistical significance by gender in both prisoners and prison warders. Eighty seven subjects were positive for HBsAg, HBeAg and anti-HBc, including 85 prisoners (2.11% ) and 2 prison warders (0.79%). ConclusionThe survey revealed that the difference had no statistical significant on the HBsAg positive rate between the prisoners and the general population in Liaoning.