ABSTRACT
Background: The prevalence of Hepatitis [type B and C] and Human Immunodeficiency Virus [HIV] is high in Sub-Saharan region. This creates an attentive risk of transmission among medical staff and their patients. The aim of this article is to appraise possible changes of transmission of those diseases among theater staff and ophthalmic patients
Objectives: To determine the proportion of patients for cataract surgery who might be carriers to hepatitis and/or HIV
Methods: A total of 4848 patients registered for cataract surgery between May and October, 2012 at Makkah Eye Complex, Khartoum, Sudan; were serology screened for hepatitis [type B and C] and HIV. There were 336 patients found to be positively infected by one or more of these diseases
Results: During study period the prevalence rate of total of these viral diseases was 6.93% [336/4848] of which 0.53% [26/4848] patients were HIV positive, 4.5% [227/4848] were positive for hepatitis [B] and 1.9% [95/4848] were positive for hepatitis [C]
Conclusion: There is a negligible but real risk of transmission of HIV and hepatitis during cataract surgery. Pre-operative screening of all patients going for major ophthalmic surgery may be desirable to protect theater staff and patients