Viral Hepatitis in Dentistry – An overlooked contributor to disease burden and occupational hazard in India

Introduction: Dental professionals are considered to be at high-risk for contacting blood-borne pathogen transmissions. Thus, making it necessary for dentists to be aware on prevention, transmission and management of viral hepatitis. Objective: One day training programs for upskilling dental fraternity were conducted on 11th November 2019 and 11thFebruary 2020. Program also evaluated the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) of dentists regarding infection control practices and oral manifestations of viral hepatitis. Methods: One-day training program viz. “Viral hepatitis in Dentistry” under project Programmed Approach to Knowledge And Sensitization on Hepatitis (PRAKASH) was organized and a cross-sectional study using 20-item-self-reported questionnaire was conducted among participating professionals from six states of India. Identifying information was removed during statistical analysis. Results: Total of 625 dental professionals were trained; of which 470 participated in the KAP study i.e. response rate was calculated to be 75% (470 out of 625). Females represented about 73.2% of the sample(n=470). Sample comprised of experts from all the branches of dentistry. Almost 97% of responders were from private dental institutes or clinics. Mean knowledge score was found to be 4.71 ± 2.04, however when compared with age, knowledge in older professionals > 25 years was higher at 5.00 + 2.10 than participants’ aged<25, 4.57 ± 2.00 (p value = 0.03). Participating professionals seems to be following precautionary practices regarding viral hepatitis in dental clinics in a comparable manner irrespective of their age i.e. mean practice score of 6.81 ± 1.82 in professionals’< 25 years of age and mean practice score 6.81 ± 1.67 in trainees > 25 years. Conclusion: Study raised concerns regarding poor knowledge about infection prevention control and management of viral hepatitis in dental settings. Limited interventions in terms of capacity building programs for dentists on viral hepatitis, highlight the necessity of continued education through such training programs

Hepatitis update program: need of the situation to co-manage viral hepatitis and COVID-19

Background: Government of India has taken several initiatives towards combating viral hepatitis but due to sudden surge in COVID-19 cases resulted in suspension of viral hepatitis program related activities. Moreover, COVID-19 has several liver related complications hence more special precautions are required to manage patients with known liver diseases. Nurses play an important role in management of any disease. However, there is limited knowledge among nurses on co-management of COVID-19 and viral hepatitis. With this background, two-day training program for nursing professionals was conceptualized under the project PRAKASH to educate and train the nurses about co-management of COVID-19 and viral hepatitis.        Methods: A pre-post study was undertaken among nurses who have registered for hepatitis update program. The online link to 25-knowledge related questions along with demographic variables was shared with the registered participants. Paired t test and other statistical analyses were done using SPSS v-21. Level of significance was taken at p<0.05Results: A total of 1151 responses were received out of 1477 trained participants. The mean age of the nursing participants was 32.5±6.95 years. The overall mean knowledge score in the pre-assessment was found to be 15.47±4.13 out of 25, which further increased to 20.72±3.81 in the post-assessment. Gender, type of facility, education, willingness to get trained and prior training related to viral hepatitis were found to be independently associated with pre-knowledge score.Conclusions: Training programs should be encouraged for diseases which are of public health importance and can’t be ignored with respect to increasing burden of COVID-19 cases

A brief insight on knowledge about Viral Hepatitis in Pregnancy among clinicians

Viral Hepatitis (VH) is one of the most serious infections during pregnancy which not only creates complications for the mother but also transmits the infection to the newborn. Hence, clinicians should be aware about the diagnosis and management related to VH during pregnancy and modes to prevent it. Thus the present study aimed to assess the current knowledge about VH in pregnancy among clinicians. A cross-sectional study was conducted among physicians who attended National Seminar for Physicians on Viral Hepatitis in Pregnancy organized by PRAKASH. An online link to 25-item questionnaire was circulated with all the registered participants. The data was analysed using IBM-SPSS version-21. The statistical significance was considered to be &lt;0.05.A total of 64 physicians with mean age of 33.73±10.57 were included in the study. Mean knowledge score was found to be 15.41±3.47 out of 25 with 59% of the participants having poor-to-moderate knowledge about VH in pregnancy. The study raises serious concerns about initiating training related to diagnosis and management of VH in pregnancy among clinicians

Effect of one-day training on Knowledge related to Biosafety and waste management among life-science Students

Context: Laboratory workers are at increased risk of occupational hazards especially microbial infections. These occupational hazards can be reduced by merely creating awareness related to Biosafety. Thus biosafety and waste management training is important and needs to be inculcated at novice stage. Aims: The present study aimed to assess the effect of one-day training program on knowledge related to biosafety and biohazard among life-science students. Settings and Design: The study was conducted through online medium, organized by Department of Microbiology, Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi using a Quasi Experimental design. Methods and Material: A one-day training on Biosafety and Waste Management was organized by Department of Microbiology for life-science students. A pre-test with 15 questions was administered to the participants before commencement of the training. One mark was allotted for each correct response and zero marks for incorrect marks. At the end of training, post knowledge was assessed using the same questions as pre-test. Statistical analysis used: The data on pre-post knowledge assessment was analyzed using SPSS Version 21. Paired t-test was used to assess the mean difference in pre and post knowledge assessment amongst the participants. The level of significance was taken as &lt;0.05. Results: A total of 81 participants was analyzed for pre-post analysis. The mean age was 19.98 ± 1.06 years with 59(72.8%) being females. The mean pre-knowledge and post-knowledge score was found to be 10.20 ± 2.09 and 14.02 ± 1.63 respectively. The mean difference of 3.83 ± 2.23 in pre and post knowledge was found to be significant (p&lt;0.001). Conclusions: Life-science students have poor-to-moderate knowledge about biosafety and waste management. Training on biosafety helps in improving knowledge