Hepatitis C virus infection and risk factors in health-care workers at Ain Shams University Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt

The objectives of this study were to document the background prevalence and incidence of HCV infection among HCWs in Ain Shams University Hospitals in Cairo and analyse the risk factors for HCV infection. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2008 among 1770 HCWs. Anti-HCV prevalence was age-standardized using the Cairo population. A prospective cohort was followed for a period of 18 months to estimate HCV incidence. The crude anti-HCV prevalence was 8.0% and the age-standardized seroprevalence was 8.1%. Risk factors independently associated with HCV seropositivity were: age, manual worker, history of blood transfusions and history of parenteral anti-schistosomiasis treatment. The estimated incidence of HCV infection was 7.3 per 1000 person-years. HCWs in this setting had a similar high HCV seroprevalence as the general population of greater Cairo

Pharmacoepidemiological study of self-medication in adults attending pharmacies in Alexandria, Egypt

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the extent and pattern of selfmedication among adults, to identify their knowledge and practice concerning the purchased drugs and to calculate prescribing and purchaser care indicators. Following WHO methods, 35 pharmacies were randomly selected from districts in Alexandria city, Egypt. Of 1294 clients interviewed at these pharmacies, 1050 [81.1%] purchased self-medication; the commonest reason given was a belief that the condition was minor. The most frequently dispensed drugs were those for the respiratory system. The mean number of drugs per encounter was 1.10, mean cost LE 7.29 and mean dispensing time 2.53 minutes. Purchasers' knowledge and practice regarding the purchased drugs were poor