International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | August 2019 | Vol 7 | Issue 8 Page 3000 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Asaithambi A et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2019 Aug;7(8):3000-3004 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Hepatitis B awareness and vaccine status among allied health science students Anupriya Asaithambi, Mikun Manoj, Prabhusaran Nagarajan*, Uma Alagappan INTRODUCTION Hepatitis B viral infections are endemic worldwide with more than 350 million patients is chronic carriers; 600000 deaths resulting annually from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. 1 Occupational exposure to HBV is very common among health care workers (HCWs) thereby approximately 35 million HCWs were infected. It has been estimated nearly 66,000 hepatitis B viral infections per year due to needle stick injuries. 2 Hepatic manifestations are very common and extra hepatic complications are found very less in acute stage of infections. 3 The high risk of people who are having the chance of getting HBV infections are medical, paramedical and allied health professionals. In this study we are concentrating mainly allied health students only. The main modes of transmission are trans fusional risk, exposure to body fluids, vertical transmission, sexual contact and occupational exposures. It is a myth that only health care professionals in modern medicine may have high risk, but equally the other occupational groups Department of Microbiology, Trichy SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India Received: 25 May 2019 Revised: 17 June 2019 Accepted: 03 July 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. Prabhusaran Nagarajan, E-mail: leptoprabhu@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Hepatitis B is endemic throughout the world and occupational exposure to HBV is very common among health care professionals. The main objective of the study was to assess the knowledge about HBV virus, modes of transmission and vaccination status. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study which was carried out among 60 Allied Health Students in a tertiary care teaching hospital. The valediction of the questionnaire was done by a pilot study before starting the survey. Results: The respond rate was 96% and knowledge on causative agent was 93%, the organ affected 81.7% and modes of transmission were 70%. Awareness about vaccination and its importance were also assessed. The participants completed their three doses of vaccination were 12%, two doses 70% and not yet started was 18%. Awareness about other health care related infections through needle stick injuries and the risk percentage of contracting infection in the order of HIV, HBV and HCV was answered correctly by 81% of the participants. Conclusions: This study may help to impart the knowledge and awareness about HBV among the student population who lack knowledge regarding mode of transmission and fatal consequence. This study may further help the student population to inculcate health precautions during their clinical exposure in the near future. Keywords: Awareness, Hepatitis B, Needle stick injury, Vaccination DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20193385