Prevalence of HIV, Hepatitis B and C Seropositivity in Expired IV Drug Abusers in Hamedan

A concern for doctors and medical staff in forensic medicine centers is the risk of transmission contagious diseases such as AIDS, Hepatitis B and C from patients or cadavers of IV drug abusers and their specimens. They may be infected to these serious diseases. The estimation of the prevalences of these diseases in expired IV drug abusers can be a guide for primary and secondary preventions in high risk forensic medicine and other medical centers personnel. This is a one- year observational descriptive case-control study on expired IV drug abusers and the control group (car accident victims), handled in Hamedan Forensic Medicine Center from 20 April 2007 to 20 April 2008. To estimate the prevalence of AIDS, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infections among cadavers of IV drug abusers and to compare them with these prevalence in cadavers of the control group, blood samples were taken from all expired IV drug abusers and the same number of car accident victims. Then the blood samples were analyzed in the laboratory for detection of HBS-Ag, HBS-Ab, HIV-Ab, and HCV-Ab (hemolyzed blood samples were excluded from the study). To confirm the diagnosis, Western Blot and RIBA tests were done on positive samples for HIV-Ab and HCV-Ab respectively. Demographic data were taken too. Statistical analysis of the results was performed by using SPSS software (version16). Out of 94 expired IV drug abusers, 10. 6٪ were HIV-Ab positive, 6. 4٪ were HBS-Ag positive, and 60. 6٪ were HCV-Ab positive, which were statistically significant for HIV and HCV compared to control group (p< 0. 001 and p<0. 0001 respectively). Since the prevalence of HIV and HCV infections have shown a significant difference between expired IV drug abusers and the control group, strict observation of safety such as wearing masks, glasses, and gloves are highly recommended to reduce the risk of acquiring these diseases in case of exposure to patients, cadavers and specimens of IV drug abusers.