Seroepidemiology of HIV, HBV & HCV infections in laboratory staff(Kermanshah, 2002)

Background & Objectives: Blood-borne viral diseases represent one of the most potentially serious threats to healthcare workers & laboratory staff and since they can be asymptomatic for many years their true prevalence in medical staff have not been clearly determined.

This study was carried out to determine the rate of seropositivity for hepatitis B & C viruses & HIV in the laboratory staff of Kermanshah university of medical sciences at 2002.

Materials & Methods: 110 laboratory staffs participated in this descriptive study. A questionnaire asking about history of blood ingestion, needle-stick injury, occupational diseases & vaccination was completed by each of the participants. Blood samples for analysis of HBs-Ag, HCV-Ab & HIV-Ab by ELIZA method were collected.

Results: 3.3% of the analysed samples were positive for HBs-Ag. A positive HIV- Ab by ELIZA was negative when using confirmatory western blot method. No HCV-Ab positivity was identified by this method. 57.2% of cases had history of accidentally blood ingestion & 66.4% gave history of needle-stick injury.

Discussion: Prevalence of HBs-Ag positivity in this study was 3.3% which is in the range of normal population in Iran and may be representative of hepatitis B vaccination effectivity in laboratory personnel.To reduce the risk of contamination use of latex gloves, eyeglasses & masks during working with blood & products is recommended.