Prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C infections and their relationship with injectable drug use in a cohort of Sri Lankan prisoners

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Previous community surveys on hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) infections in Sri Lanka report a Sow prevalence. Studies in Western countries show that prison inmates have a high risk of infection and the main risk factor is injectable drug use. There is no comparable data from Sri Lanka. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBV and HCV infections, and their relationship with injectable drug use in a cohort of Sri Lankan prisoners, METHODS: A prospective, cross sectional study involving 200 randomly selected male inmates of Mahara and Weiikada prisons. All were questioned about recreational drug use. Screening for HBV and HCV was performed using Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) and Anti-HCV antibodies (anti-HCV}. Confirmation of the active infection was by HBV-DNA and HCV-RNA assays using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: The median age of the study population was 47 years (range 20-93). One (0.5%) was positive for HBsAg and that inmate was negative for HBV-DNA. 15 (7.5%) were positive for Anti-HCV, of which only 2 {!%} were positive for HCV-RNA. Though there were 71(35.5%) who admitted drug abuse only 6 (3%) had ever used intravenous drugs and none were positive for HBV or HCV. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HBV and HCV infections as well as injectable drug use was low among these Sri Lankan prison inmates.