Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. It is development of end-stage liver disease and carcinoma. Studies have shown that patients infected with HBV may respond to different antiviral therapy and information about HBV prevalence is very important in helping physicians to provide better treatments. The aim of the work was to study the prevalence of HBV in the city of Zawia- Libya. 348 samples were analyzed using ELISA test at Zawia Reference Laboratory, the study showed that out of 348 patients, males were 237 and females were 111, their ages ranged from 14 to 83 years, and they were distributed into four age groups. The percentage in first group (4.88%), in the second group (62.64%), in the third group (28.44%), and in the fourth group (4.02%). The non-Libyan patients represent about 28% of the infections and most of the neighboring countries. The vast majority of HBV infections were in the age range of 21 – 60 years (91.08%), which are more subjected to risk factors since they are at the working age. Furthermore, people older than 60 years represent only about 4.02%, suggesting that HBV infections were less common earlier or infected patients did not survive to reach age older than 60 years. The data also showed that both males and females are equally vulnerable to the infection and most of the neighbor countries are represented in these patients.
