Urogenital chlamydia trachomatis infection among prisoner men

Chlamydia trachomatis [C.trachomatis] is one of the most common curable STDs. Little information is available on its incidence among prisoner men. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of urogenital infection with C.trachomatis among imprisoned men as a high risk group. In this cross-sectional study, 130 imprisoned men aged 16-49 years in one of Tehran prisons were randomly selected. After completing informed consent, each volunteer dedicated a urine sampler and a completed questionnaire. DNA extraction and PCR assay were performed in Avicenna Research Institute. Among the 130 prisoner men, only 3 [2.3%] had positive PCR test results. Mean age of participants was 28.00 +/- 4.58 and the mean age at first sexual contact was 20.33 +/- 3.51. All had at least elementary education while 66.7% were unmarried and 33.3% were unemployed and had less than 1000000 Rails per month. Moreover, 33.3% were homeless and others living in rental houses. Furthermore, 66.6% had more than 4 sexual partners. There was no difference in condom use and none of them mentioned urinary discharge or dysuria. Additionally, 66.6% were IVDU and had more than 3 prison admissions. There was no report of HIV, HCV or HBV infection among them. The low incidence of C.trachomatis in this study showed that screening of asymptomatic men by PCR is not cost-effective and in order to obtain more epidemiological information, low-cost techniques such as serological methods can be recommended. Moreover, studies with broader distribution and higher sample size should be performed to determine real prevalence of chlamydia infection and make a definite decision about screening

Preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS: do Iranian pregnant mothers know about it?

Nowadays, HIV is mostly spreading in Asian countries. One of the important routes for HIV transmission in these countries is the vertical route which infects 35% to 45% of newborns. Mother's education, drug prophylaxis and Cesarean section, accompanied by banning breastfeeding will decrease this rate to 2%. Therefore, mothers' knowledge about Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission [PMTCT] has a great role in HIV/AIDS prevention. This study was designed to evaluate knowledge of pregnant women about HIV, its vertical transmission and prevention in Tehran, Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1577 pregnant women aged 15-46 years who were attending prenatal care clinics in Tehran, Iran. The research material was a questionnaire which was completed daily by trained midwives. The data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA, independent sample t-test, Pearson correlation and linear regression with a significance level of p = 0.05. About 16.5% of the participants had good knowledge about HIV/AIDS and 54.1% about its transmission routes but awareness about its prevention was only 5.7%. Fifty-seven percent of the participant had not been tested for HIV earlier and 20.2% were not willing to undergo such tests. About 86.2% of the participants had no idea about the availability of drug prophylaxis in Iran for PMTCT. The fact that 28.2% of the participants were not willing to undergo HIV testing reflects negative attitude about HIV infection. Although the overall awareness about the infection and its transmission was good but knowledge about its prevention especially by PMTCT and its availability in Iran was low. Educational programs through mass media or prenatal care programs by focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention maybe useful

Prevalence of intravenous drug use-associated infections

Intravenous drug use [IDU] is a frequent route of infection transmission, especially during the recent decades. Numerous studies have addressed the increasing frequency of IDU-associated infections such as hepatitis and AIDS. The present study was achieved to determine the prevalence of IDU-associated infections in 3 teaching hospitals in Iran. For this descriptive study, 3 teaching hospitals affiliated to Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were considered and patients who had been admitted in infectious ward were included. Totally, 126 IDU patients were evaluated for duration of drug abuse, type of drug, site and frequency of injections, and clinical manifestations. The study population included 123 males and 3 females with a mean age of 37 years. They have averagely abused IV drugs for 5.8 years 3.3 times a day. Groin [44%] and upper extremity [forearm, arm or hand] [36%] were the most common sites of injection. Soft tissue and skin infection, respiratory infections and pulmonary TB, and viral hepatitis were the most common IDU-associated infections. Skin and soft tissues were the most common site of involvement among IDU patients. High frequency of pulmonary tuberculosis in IDU necessitates clinician's attention; however, the association between TB and HIV was remarkable

Pattern of pulmonary infections among intravenous drug abusers

Considering the increasing number of intravenous drug users [IDUs] and their frequent admissions to infectious disease wards, better understanding of their infections seems necessary. The purpose of this research was to study the epidemiology, prevalence and nature of pulmonary infections in admitted IDUs in these wards at Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. A descriptive study was performed on 126 admitted IDUs in infectious wards of the Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences from May 2002 to Jan. 2004 and we classified their infections. Pulmonary infections were the most common infectious disease category after skin and soft tissue infections.. In 34 of 126 IDUs, pulmonary infection was the definite diagnosis which was investigated in 4 groups: pneumonia, tuberculosis, pleurisy, and lung abscess. Pneumonia was the second most common infection. The most prevalent causes of fever were pulmonary infections. Twenty seven percent [8 cases, 9 admissions] of pulmonary infections were smear positive TB. Frequency of HBS Ag, Anti HCV and HIV infection was 20%, 92% and 67% respectively. Mean duration of admission was 17 days and in average 6 antibiotics were used per patient. Mortality of pulmonary infections was 30% whereas the overall mortality was 17.7%. We found pulmonary infections to be the second most frequent cause of infection in IDUs with a high mortality rate. The high frequency of TB and concurrence with HIV was also noted