Abstract

SEROPREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS ANALYSIS OF HIV, HBV AND HCV AMONG JAIL INMATES OF CENTRAL JAIL DERA ISMAIL KHAN, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Saima Mashal*, Fatima, Muhammad Muzammal, Rizwan, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali, Safeer Ahmad, Sohail Ahmad, Shawana Huma, Ramsha Zahra, Sana Saleem Jan, Nazia Farid Burki and Inam Ullah

ABSTRACT

To find out the risk factors as well as the tendency of active human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections among the prisoners of central jail D.I.Khan concerning both male and female, though no previous data was available with respect to the occurrence of HIV, hepatitis B & C virus infections in this area. In this study, total 550 prisoners both male and female were selected randomly and their blood samples were tested for HIV, HBV and HCV. Samples were collected from the prisoners in central Jail D.I.Khan Pakistan, from April to June 2015. All of the samples were tested by ICT and reconfirmation was done by using ELISA to reduce the chances of false positivity about the samples results. Arrangement of the data in various groups was done by age wise and gender wise. It was found that out of 550 samples, 4 samples were confirmed positive for active HIV, 7 for HBV infections and 10 for HCV. In central jail D.I.Khan, HIV, HBV, HCV occurrences were found very little among the prisoners but it can cause some threats. The prisoners are easily co-infected with HIV than HBV if they are already infected with HCV. To identify the infected prisoners regular tests should be conducted otherwise they will remain undiagnosed. New technique such as PCR should be used for the detection of antiviral antibodies. PCR technique is comprised on the detection of active viral RNA.

Keywords: Active HIV, HCV, HBV infections, D. I. Khan, Pakistan.