Evaluation Of The Ratio Of Positivity Of Hbs-Ag, Anti-Hcv And Antihiv In Patients Admitted To Urologic Surgery

The infections caused by human immun deficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and C virus pose a serious occupational risk for the healthcare workers especially those in emergency service, laboratory and surgery wards. Vaccination and establishment of the strict biosafety procedures are the main principles to prevent bloodborne infections in healthcare workers. Additionally, serological screening of the preoperative patients could decrease the risk for exposure. In this study, we aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HBsAg, AntiHCV, Anti-HIV ½ in preoperative urological surgery patients. A total of 260 patients (184 (%70.8) male, 76 (% 29.2) female were included in the study. HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV ½ seropositivity of the patients admitted to Urology Clinic for elective surgical procedures between March 2008-December 2010, were evaluated retrospectively. Among all patients included in the study, a total of eight patients- six male, two female- were HBsAg positive and one male patient were positive for Anti-HCV. Anti-HIV ½ positivity was not detected. The seroprevalence of HBsAg and Anti-HCV were; 3.1% (n=8) and 0.4% (n=1), respectively in patient group. Although statistically significant relationship was not detected, HBsAg positivity rate was higher in male patients than female patient group. HBsAg and Anti-HCV seropositivity rates in our study group showed concordance with the low rates reported previously in our country. Besides educational programmes to healthcare workers about bloodborne diseases, vaccination against hepatitis B, implementation of strict biosafety precautions during surgery process considering any patients as potential carriers, preoperative serological screening of the patients should be useful to reduce the risk of occupational exposure.