Evaluation of HBeAg and HBV viral load among general population of district Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

The main objective of this research was to evaluate the somewhat consistent association between serological and molecular characterization of hepatitis B virus patients in district Bannu. Blood samples of 563 HBsAg positive patients were collected, which were initially analyzed by an immuno-chromatographic technique (the ICT-kit method), and then further assessed by ELISA and polymerase chain reaction. Out of 563 blood samples, 303(53.81%) were positive for qPCR (viral load >200). The highest numbers of positive qPCR cases were found in the age group of 16-30 years. Out of 303 qPCR positive cases, 207(68.31%) were male, while 96(31.68%) were female patients. Out of 303 positive qPCR patients, 204 were negative for HBeAg while 99 were positive for HBeAg. HBeAg negative patients showed lower infectivity in relation to qPCR, while HBeAg positive patients showed high infectivity. Importantly, the adolescent stage of life is important in spreading and establishing the disease in general public, those having more than 100,000 IU/ml or whose HBeAg test will be positive must go for viral therapy against HBV.