Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at substantial risk of acquiring bloodborne pathogen infections through contact with blood and other potentially infectious materials. The main objectives of this study were to determine the epidemiological characteristics of occupational exposure to blood/body fluids, related risk factors of such exposure, and hepatitis B vaccination status among HCWs.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2004 to June 2005 at three university hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Using a structured interview, we questioned HCWs who had the potential for high-risk exposure during the year preceding the study.

Results: With a total number of 467 exposures (52.9%) and an annual rate of 0.5 exposures per HCW, 391 (43%) of the 900 HCWs had at least one occupational exposure to blood and other infected fluids during the previous year. The highest rate of occupational exposure was found among nurses (26%) and the housekeeping staff (20%). These exposures most commonly occurred in the medical and emergency wards (23% and 21%, respectively). The rate of exposure in HCWs with less than five years of experience was 54%. Percutaneous injury was reported in 280 participants (59%). The history of hepatitis B vaccination was positive in 85.93% of the exposed HCWs. Sixty-one percent had used gloves at the time of exposure. Hand washing was reported in 91.4% and consultation with an infectious disease specialist in 29.4%. There were 72 exposures to HIV, HBV and HCV exposure to HBV was the most common. In 237 of the enrolled cases, the source was unknown. Job type, years of experience and hospital ward were the risk factors for exposure.
Conclusion: Education, protective barriers and vaccination are important in the prevention of viral transmission among HCWs.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is a form of hepatitis in which despite absence of detectable HBsAg, HBV-DNA is present in peripheral blood of patients. The responsible mechanisms for progression of OBI yet to be clarified, but some investigators believed that the genetics and immunological parameters are different in resistant individuals and patients. Vitamin D3 and its receptor interaction could be involved in anti-viral immune response. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between polymorphisms in intron 8 of VDR with OBI.
Methods: In this experimental study, the plasma samples of 3700 blood donors were collected and tested for HBsAg and anti-HBs by ELISA. The HBsAg negative and anti-HBc positive samples were selected and screened for HBV-DNA using PCR. HBV-DNA positive samples were assigned as OBI cases and PCR-RFLP was performed to examine the polymorphisms in intron 8 of VDR genes.
Results: Results of current study indicated that 352 (9.5%) of 3700 blood samples were HBsAg^- and anti-HBc⁺. HBV-DNA was detected in 57/352 (16.1%) of HBsAg^- and anti-HBc⁺ samples. Our results showed that no significant difference was observed in Apa-1 polymorphisms of intron 8 of VDR and OBI patients.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that there are not any association between Apa-1 detected alleles and OBI, hence, it can be concluded that these alleles are not associated with OBI and other researchers should evaluate relation between other polymorphisms of VDR with OBI.