Abstract

S. J. Gandhi

During the ongoing outbreak of Hepatitis-B in State of Gujarat as on April 11, 2009, total 593 confirmed cases had been registered with 94 deaths of unfortunate victims. It had been a major Public Health Challenge as the significant no. of deaths occurred over a short period in a focal area of the State and the Epidemiological Investigations carried out with the help of various departments and Institutions pointed the use and re-use of unsterilized syringes and needles as the root cause for this unfortunate event. This event has been unique in the way that public health interventions like Antiviral drug Lamivudin was instituted towards the treatment of acute Hepatitis-B cases being reported and was found useful and Mass-Vaccination of the affected population with Hepatitis-B injectable vaccine which conferred not only protective value but also built up confidence of the people. In addition during this outbreak all round actions were taken for Bio-Medical waste disposal, identifying culprits and resorting legal actions against them as well as creating awareness for safe injection practices amongst medical fraternity and people at large