Hepatitis B Virus Hbv Infection Research Proposal

7. The limitations of the study are minimal, including only the fact that the study demonstrates only minimal literature review and would be strengthened by such review, specific to Uganda and not only inclusive of the whole of the region or the whole of Africa. This may be in part due the severely limited set of research information from which to pull from, but if so this is not explained in the work but must then be assumed by the reader.

8. This work is generalizable but it could be challenging to develop the behavior review aspect of the study among different populations due to compliance and privacy issues. Yet, with the assurance of anonymity the study could be repeated and would be helpful elsewhere, where HBV is endemic. The research study might also be better served if it is conducted among other medical and medical support professionals in the nation and in other places where HBV is endemic. In other words there are many individuals in larger groups such as nursing care, technician and other trained medical staff as well as unskilled support staff who may actually receive a greater number of exposures in their work over a longer period of time and though Ugandan student doctors are at risk others people with less knowledge than themselves are probably at higher risk than future doctors.

9. The main findings of the study are significant in that they clearly make the case that medical students are at higher risk for exposure, infection and transmission of HBV and that the population, a crucial aspect of the development of medical care in Uganda should be better protected. Compliance with either proof of childhood immunization for HBV or preclinical HBV vaccination would benefit not only the study population but the whole of the Ugandan population in the face of this highly transmissible and sometimes deadly disease. Adopting universal precautions against blood and body fluids across the medical profession would also greatly improve the rate of transmission and this is made clear in the work.

10. The primary findings of this work are agreeable and are made even more agreeable because the researchers include personal/behavioral risk associated with the transmission of HBV among the population and do not simply limit the study to known blood borne pathogens exposure. The authors achieve their study intentions. The discussion section of the work offers again a greater number of introductory materials but also supports the suppositions of the research as it closes the article. I would suggest that this study be strengthened with literature, including a formal literature review, be broadened or redone with more at risk medical professionals and unskilled medical support staff and be used as a basis for the broadening of the immunization rate among all adult medical staffs not simply medical students. The work might also be better served if it better explained the nature of the problem, i.e. cost and length of treatment for students and others and the risk to the whole community if individuals in medical school are stricken with this disease and choose not to return to school, reducing the already challenged number of potential medical care providers in an environment that can be presumed to be challenged by access to quality health care.

Works Cited

Pido, Bongomin & Kagimu, Magid Prevelence of Hepatitus B virus (HBV) Infection Among…