Frequency of Hepatitis B, C and HIV infection among patients referring to Yazd Blood Transfusion Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

Background and aims: Although several researches have been conducted on hepatitis B, C and HIV infection, some aspects of epidemiology of these diseases are still unknown. The population based studies have been done in Iran so the following study focused on the prevalence of Hepatitis B, C and HIV infection in patients admitted to the Yazd Blood Transfusion medical diagnostic laboratory. Methods: In this cross sectional study, people with high risk behaviors that introduced by the health care center and prisons in Yazd province, were studied; at the first step their blood samples have been screened with EIA method, then the repeatedly reactive samples were tested with confirmatory tests (Neutralization test for hepatitis B, RIBA for hepatitis C and WESTERN BLOT for HIV infection). If the result of confirmatory tests became positive, the final test results were reported positive. Result: After investigations, the following statistics were produced: Among 65, 59 and 43 cases who were screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infection in 1395, 4 (6%), 22 (37%), 17 (40%) had positive results, respectively. Among cases that were screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infection in 1390, 9%, 27% and 10% had positive results, respectively. Percentage of females with HIV infections in 1395 was 59%. In 1390, frequency of HIV positive females was 27%. During these years, female/male ratio for HCV infection was approximately constant (1/9). Conclusion: Frequency of females with HIV infection is increasing dramatically. This topic is important for the health care legislators in Yazd province and demands fundamental plans for prevention of it.

Keywords:

HIV , Hepatitis B , Hepatitis C