Objective:

Healthcare workers are at high risk of acquiring blood-borne diseases. At least 26 different infection agents can be transmitted to the healthcare workers via direct contact with blood, blood components as well as needle and sharp objects injury. Viruses, mostly hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are by far more frequent among these agent pathogens. So the aim of this study was to evaluate the seroprevalance of HBV, HCV and HIV among the healthcare workers our hospital retrospectively.

Materials and Methods:

Between 2010-2012, serum HBsAg, anti-HBcIgG, anti-HBs, anti-HCV and anti-HIV results of the 823 healthcare workers were investigated. Micro-ELISA assay was used to detect these results.

Results:

Six hundred seventy three individuals (81.8%) were positive for AntiHBs, and 114 (13.9%) were positive for both AntiHBs and AntiHBcIgG. Fourteen people (1.7%) were positive for HBsAg, whereas only one individual (0.12%) was positive for HCV. One hundred thirty six induviduals (16.5%) were naïve for HBV, and there were not vaccinated as well.

Conclusion:

Healthcare workers are at high risk of HBV, HCV and HIV infections. Since the risk of transmission of HBV is high, and our area is endemic for HBV, all the healthcare workers should be vaccinated for HBV. Also the standard infection control precautions for HCV and HIV should be applied at all times within a healthcare setting.

Keywords: Health care workers, HBV, HCV, HIV, seroprevalance