TITLE:
Post-Exposure Prophylaxis against HBV and HIV Infection in Health Care Workers
AUTHORS:
Azar Hadadi, Mojgan Karbakhsh, Mehrnaz Rasoolinejad, Mahboobeh Haji Abdolbaghi, Nahid Hadadi, Shirin Afhami, Negin Esmaeelpour-Bazzaz
KEYWORDS:
Post-Exposure Prophylaxis; HBV Infection; HIV Infection; Health Care Workers
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.3 No.3,
August
28,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Healthcare
Workers (HCWs) are constantly at risk of exposure to viral infections such as
hepatitis B virus (HBV), human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C
virus (HCV). We aim at demonstrating the results of a three-year period of a
surveillance program in Iran
with the prospective follow-up of HCWs exposed to blood-borne viruses. HCWs who had experienced an occupational
exposure to HBV, HCV or HIV from September 2005 to 2008 were enrolled in the
study. Age, gender, route of exposure, type of fluid, type of virus, job,
department, working shift, work experience, wearing gloves when exposed,
history of HBV vaccination and the serum level of anti HBs antibody were
recorded for all participants through an individual interview. Serum samples
were taken from both HCWs and the sources of exposure and were tested by enzyme
linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The data were gathered through
questionnaires completed by a nurse under the supervision of a specialist of
infectious diseases. In this study, 100 HCWs who were occupationally exposed to
HIV, HCV or HBV were included. Most exposures had occurred among nurses (35%),
followed by residents (29%), interns (18%), housekeepers (7%), the lab staff
(6%), and specialists (5%). Most of the exposures had occurred in emergency
(21%) and surgical (20%) wards. The most common route of exposure was
percutaneous injuries (77%) and the most common cases had contacted with needles and angiocaths (71.1%)
during injection or opening vein routes (21%). Establishing a surveillance
system for registering the occurrence of occupational hazardous exposures,
performing prophylactic measures and following up the exposed is a necessity in
hospitals so that the number of exposures and occupational diseases among the
HCWs can be decreased.