Injection drug use is a risk factor for HCV infection in urban Egypt

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 4; no. 9; p. e7193
• Main Authors: Paez Jimenez, Adela, Mohamed, Mostafa K, Eldin, Noha Sharaf, Seif, Hasnaa Abou, El Aidi, Said, Sultan, Yehia, Elsaid, Nasr, Rekacewicz, Claire, El-Hoseiny, Mostafa, El-Daly, May, Abdel-Hamid, Mohamed, Fontanet, Arnaud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 28.09.2009; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Accident prevention; Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; Age; Antibodies; Blood & organ donations; Blood transfusions; Case-Control Studies; Cognitive biases; Disease control; Disease transmission; Egypt; Epidemiology; Families & family life; Female; Fever; Health aspects; Health care; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Hepacivirus - genetics; Hepatitis; Hepatitis A; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C - complications; Hepatitis C - transmission; Hepatitis C - virology; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatology; Hospitals; Humans; Infections; Injection; Intravenous administration; Laboratories; Male; Marriage; Medical research; Medical wastes; Medicine; Multivariate Analysis; Patients; Prevalence; Prisoners; Public Health and Epidemiology/Epidemiology; Public Health and Epidemiology/Health Policy; Public Health and Epidemiology/Infectious Diseases; Public Health and Epidemiology/Screening; Public Health and Epidemiology/Social and Behavioral Determinants of Health; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Rural areas; Shaving & shavers; Sociodemographics; Stitches; Studies; Substance Abuse, Intravenous - complications; Urban Population; Viruses; Egypt; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007193

To identify current risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission in Greater Cairo. A 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted comparing incident acute symptomatic hepatitis C patients in two "fever" hospitals of Greater Cairo with two control groups: household members of the cases and acute hepatitis A patients diagnosed at the same hospitals. Controls were matched on the same age and sex to cases and were all anti-HCV antibody negative. Iatrogenic, community and household exposures to HCV in the one to six months before symptoms onset for cases, and date of interview for controls, were exhaustively assessed. From 2002 to 2007, 94 definite acute symptomatic HCV cases and 188 controls were enrolled in the study. In multivariate analysis, intravenous injections (OR = 5.0; 95% CI = 1.2-20.2), medical stitches (OR = 4.2; 95% CI = 1.6-11.3), injection drug use (IDU) (OR = 7.9; 95% CI = 1.4-43.5), recent marriage (OR = 3.3; 95% CI = 1.1-9.9) and illiteracy (OR = 3.9; 95% CI = 1.8-8.5) were independently associated with an increased HCV risk. In urban Cairo, invasive health care procedures remain a source of HCV transmission and IDU is an emerging risk factor. Strict application of standard precautions during health care is a priority. Implementation of comprehensive infection prevention programs for IDU should be considered.