Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Prevalence and Risk of Unsafe Parenteral Practices in Derqui, Argentine

Abstract

(LAC) [1], and improved prevalence estimates and modeling attempts are ongoing [2]. Several estimates suggest that hepatitis C prevalence may range between 0,17% to 5,6%, and in some communities between 2,2 and 7,3% [3]. Another prevalence estimate of 1,23% was suggested for LAC [4], and a burden of 7.8 million persons affected with Hepatitis C were calculated in year 2010 for LAC [5].Frequently prevalence studies lack adequate methodology. The case of Hepatitis C in Argentina shows the same sets of problems. HCV epidemiology and risk factor contribution in Argentina is poorly described, relying on special populations' data, blood bank / laboratory data and potentially biased community based studies about risk factor exposure. To date, most sero-prevalence studies en HCV prevalence resulted from spontaneous demand, due to increases in reported cases [6,7] and focused on small communities or high-risk groups [8][9][10], or high-risk populations [11][12][13]. The gold standard for prevalence studies are community based studies [14]. Some countries, such as Brazil [15], have well designed prevalence estimates by national surveys.Injection safety is a worldwide challenge with greater impact on less developed (LDC) and transitional countries (TC) [16]. Injections may be appropriate, unnecessary or unsafe [17]. Unsafe injections, defined as syringe or needle reuse without sterilization, are supposed to produce 40% of hepatitis C worldwide, mostly in East Asia [18,19]. A substantial portion of injections is unnecessary. Unnecessary injections are approximately 50% of the total injections (world: 3.4 and Latin América: 1.7 injections/ persons/ year) [20]. Reuse proportion is 39.3% (range 1.2-75% in different world regions). A complex series of causes determine the rates of unnecessary and unsafe injections; cultural, economic, technologic and quality /safety combined related problems are related to their prevalence. Cultural beliefs that injections are better include, that they are faster, stronger and more advanced technologies than oral drugs. Unsafe parenteral practices, including unsafe nosocomial control measures, seem to contribute to this problem. AbstractBackground: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemiology and risk factor (RF) contribution in Argentina can be improved, with prevalence studies addressing unsafe injections in health care settings. Study purpose was: 1) to estimate a defined population prevalence of HCV and 2) to assess RF exposure for HCV, including potential impact of Health Care Unsafe Parenteral Practices (HC-UPP).