Shahab Saqib, Muhammad Zuhaib Khan, Javaria Qazi, Sayed Irtiza Hussain Shah Gardyzi.
Prevalence and epidemiology of blood borne pathogens in health care workers of Rawalpindi/Islamabad.
J Pak Med Assoc Jan ;66(2):170-3.

Objective: To attempt to trace the molecular epidemiology of blood-borne diseases in the hospital community of Pakistan. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at three major hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad from January to May, 2014.The prevalence of three blood-borne pathogens hepatitis B and C as well as human immunodeficiency virus was investigated in hospital workers of different occupations. Initial screening was performed with immuno-chromatographic technique followed by enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay. Positive samples were subjected to real time polymerase chain reaction amplification of specific viral sequences for amplification with universal as well as genotype-specific primers. Results: Out of total 500 subjects, there were 42(8.4%) doctors, 101(20.2%) nurses, 92(18.4%) technicians, 67(13.4%) ward boys, 41(8.2%) sweepers, 36(7.2%) security guards and 122(24.4%) administrative workers. None was positive for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus after initial screening with immuno-chromatographic technique. In case of hepatitis viruses, 9(0.18%) samples were positive for anti-hepatitis C virus and 3(0.6%) for hepatitis B surface antigen. Three (2.97%) nurses and 3(3.29%) lab technicians were at the highest risk of exposure Conclusion: Human immunodeficiency virus was not present among the healthcare workers, while the prevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses was far less compared to the general population.

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