Serological Profile of Hepatitis B Virus at Ibn Rochd University Hospital Center (Casablanca, Morocco)

Aim: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public health problem with complications of progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In Morocco, the real extent of the problem related to these infections in the general population is not precisely known.

The objective of our study is to determine the serological profile of hepatitis B in patients referred to the sero-immunology laboratory of Ibn Rochd University Hospital Center in Casablanca.

Study Design: Retrospective study.

Place and Duration of Study: Sero-immunology laboratory at Ibn Rochd University Hospital Center, between January 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2022.

Methodology: This is a study based on the exploitation of data from the computer system including the results of serum analyses of HBs antigen (HBsAg), HBc antibody (HBcAb) and HBs antibody (HBsAb). The various assays were performed using the chemiluminescence technique on the Architect i1000 Analyser.

Results: Out of 4717 tests collected, 2487 patients (52.70%) were female and 2230 were male (47.30%).Nintypersons were HBsAg positive (1.90%), 846 persons were HBcAb positive (17.91%), 1290 persons were HBsAb positive (27.22%).The distribution of the positivity and negativity of the 3 associated markers showed 3153 persons with all 3 markers negative (67%), 708 persons with only HBsAb positive (15%), 578 persons with HBs Ab as well as HBcAb positive (12.14%), 185 persons with only HBcAb positive (4%) and 90 persons with both HBsAg and HBcAb positive (1.90%).

Conclusion: The prevalence of Hepatitis B in our study population is low and 66.79% remain free of contact with the virus and require vaccination to avoid serious complications of HBV infection.