ABSTRACT
Drug addicts frequently have liver diseases for different reasons: alcohol abuse, the drugs themselves, but more often hepatitis B and C infections. AIDS is common in this population as well and could also affect the liver directly or in the form of hepatocellular or biliary damage. We conducted this study to determine the prevalence of liver diseases, alcoholism, hepatitis B and C infections, and HIV positivity in this population. We studied a cohort of 137 persons, all with a history of drug abuse, and investigated the quantity of alcohol intake, the kind of drug used, and he routes of drug administration. RESULTS: We found liver disease in 33.6%. The prevalence of alcoholism was 65.4%, of HCV 67.3%, and of HBV 17.3%. HDV was undetectable, whereas we found HIV at a frequency of 17.3%. HCV RNA was detected in 85.4% of HCV. The drug most often used was cocaine at 90.4%, followed by marihuana at 88.3%; LSD use occurred in 17.5%. We found parenteral drug use in 43.1%. We performed 22 liver biopsies, 21 associated with HCV, and detected histological changes consistent with chronic hepatitis in 17, with cirrhosis in 4, and with hepatocellularcarcinoma in 1.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adolescent , Adult , Middle Aged , Alcoholism/epidemiology , HIV Infections/epidemiology , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/complications , Hepatitis, Viral, Human/epidemiology , Substance-Related Disorders/complications , Alcoholism/complications , Argentina/epidemiology , Cohort Studies , HIV Infections/complications , Hepatitis Antibodies/analysis , Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/blood , Hepatitis B/complications , Hepatitis B/epidemiology , Hepatitis C/complications , Hepatitis C/epidemiology , Hepatitis D/complications , Hepatitis D/epidemiology , Prevalence , Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiologyABSTRACT
It is accepted that the practice of odontology implies a risk of BBV and HCV transmission but the study of does not. This work tries to determine the prevalence of HBv Ac and HCV Ac (by ELISA) in odontology students and whether there is any relation to the year of study and/or the presence of other risk factors. 188 students in their last three years of studies were investigated, all the participants filled out a clinical epidemiological form. 89 women (47.3%) and 99 men (52.7%), x age was 24.8. 50 (26.7%) had other risk factors. 160 (85.1%) fulfilled biosecurity norms and 40 (21.2%) had a labour accident. RESULTS: None of the analyzed sera were positive for HCV Ac (0%) and 1 was positive for HbcAc. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of HBv Ac and HCV Ac is extremely low with no relation to the year of study or any other risk factors