RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was firstly reported from California and soon became a pandemic in the world. This disease poses serious threats to humans' health. In this study, we intended to examine the characteristics of HIV-positive patients who referred to the Behavioral Diseases Consultation Center (BDCC) in Shiraz, Iran. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. HIV-positive patients, referring toBDCC of Shiraz University of Medical Scienceswere the population under the study. The data, collected through a checklist, were encoded and entered in to the SPSS 19. Then descriptive statistics such as mean, median, standard deviation and range were used to describe the variables. Also, the relationships between the variables were tested using X2 test. RESULTS: The mean and median age of the HIV-positive patients were 39 + 8.7 and 38years, respectively.Nearly327 (65.4%) of the studied population were male and 173 (34.6%) were female. With respect to marital status, 225 (45%) participants were married, 133 (27%) were single, 91 (18.2%) were divorced and 49 (9.8%) were widowed. Also, 265(53%) of the participants were infected through injection drug use, 198 (39.6%) through sexual route, 7 (1.4%) through blood and blood products, 6 (1.2%) through tattoos and 21 (4.2%) by other routes. Most of the participants had a HIV-positive history in their family, and 145 (29%) mentioned that their wives were HIV-positive. Moreover, 320 (62.7%) of the participants had a positive history of drug use, 176 (35.2%) did not have a history of drug abuse, and the status of 10 (2%) participants was not recognized. CONCLUSION: Although the results of this study highlighted that injection addiction remains the major transmission route inIran, the role of sexual transmission should be acknowledged in the future.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that remains an important cause of mortality among children despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine around the world. We aimed this study to show a measles out-break occurring. METHODS: In early 2012, a report of measles outbreak was recorded on center for disease control (CDC) of Fars province, south of Iran. With this case-series study, characteristics of cases and network transition model were described. RESULTS: The primary case was an Afghan refugee who is likely to carry the measles virus from its country or from anywhere in Iran to Koordeh, a small village in south of Iran. Followed by the Afghan case, 6 secondary and tertiary cases including rural health worker, were occurred. Except a case of 35 year old, in which her vaccination status was unknown, all cases has had adherence to vaccination protocol. CONCLUSION: More immunologic and vaccine quality investigations are needed to find the main cause of the outbreak. Nonetheless, due to the warm weather, probable bad temperature management of cold chain and technical problem in vaccination are the main suspicious reasons of the outbreak.
