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      Hepatitis B Awareness among Medical Students and Their Vaccination Status at Syrian Private University

      research-article
      1 , 2 , *
      Hepatitis Research and Treatment
      Hindawi Publishing Corporation

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          Abstract

          Background. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a potentially life-threating infection and a well-recognized occupational hazard for health-care workers including medical students. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Syrian Private University (SPU), Faculty of Medicine, to assess the knowledge and awareness about hepatitis B, the status of hepatitis B vaccination, and the reasons for not getting vaccinated among the first- and the fifth-year medical students. Results. The present study demonstrates surprising results and raises issues about the high number of medical students that are not vaccinated or not sure about their vaccination status, which puts them at a higher risk of being infected in the future. Another important issue is the medical students' overall knowledge about this life-threating infection. The students have not been totally educated about the gravity of the situation which requires the need of further HBV education. It is highly recommended that SPU provides the HBV vaccine to all nonvaccinated students attending the faculty of medicine at no cost to encourage them to take the HBV vaccine and to reform some of its educational curriculum to effectively limit the hazardous effects of this disease and elaborate on the serious health consequences of HBV.

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          Estimation of the global burden of disease attributable to contaminated sharps injuries among health-care workers.

          The global burden of hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection due to percutaneous injuries among health care workers (HCWs) is estimated. The incidence of infections attributable to percutaneous injuries in 14 geographical regions on the basis of the probability of injury, the prevalence of infection, the susceptibility of the worker, and the percutaneous transmission potential are modeled. The model also provides the attributable fractions of infection in HCWs. Overall, 16,000 HCV, 66,000 HBV, and 1,000 HIV infections may have occurred in the year 2000 worldwide among HCWs due to their occupational exposure to percutaneous injuries. The fraction of infections with HCV, HBV, and HIV in HCWs attributable to occupational exposure to percutaneous injuries fraction reaches 39%, 37%, and 4.4% respectively. Occupational exposures to percutaneous injuries are substantial source of infections with bloodborne pathogens among health-care workers (HCWs). These infections are highly preventable and should be eliminated. 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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            Disease progression and hepatocellular carcinogenesis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis: a prospective observation of 2215 patients.

            The aim of this study was to elucidate the rate of development to cirrhosis and the rate of appearance of hepatocellular carcinoma in chronic viral hepatitis and to assess the risk factors for the development of disease in 2215 consecutive patients with viral hepatitis who were prospectively studied for a median observation period of 4.1 years. The rates of development to cirrhosis were 7.6%, 21.7%, and 32.2%, at the 5th, 10th, and 15th year, respectively. The carcinogenesis rates were 3.4%, 10.5%, and 22.4% at the 5th, 10th, and 15th year, respectively. The appearance rates of cancer in 645 patients with only hepatitis B surface antigen and in 1500 patients with only anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies were 2.1% and 4.8% at the 5th year, 4.9% and 13.6% at the 10th year, and 18.8% and 26.0% at the 15th year, respectively. The proportional hazard model identified that the amount of alcohol intake (p= 0.0002) and the indocyanine green retention rate (p= 0.022) were independently associated with carcinogenesis in hepatitis type B; and stage of hepatitis (p<0.0001), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (p= 0.0046), history of blood transfusion (p=0.0093), albumin (p=0.012), and amount of alcohol intake (p= 0.031) were independently associated with the carcinogenesis rate in hepatitis type C. Although the severity of portal fibrosis was closely correlated with the future disease development and carcinogenesis in chronic hepatitis C, it was not a good predictor in chronic hepatitis B. These epidemiological results suggest that there are some differences in the activity and modes of disease progression and cancer promotion between hepatitis B virus infection and hepatitis C virus infection.
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              Transmission of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency viruses through unsafe injections in the developing world: model-based regional estimates.

              Thousands of millions of injections are delivered every year in developing countries, many of them unsafe, and the transmission of certain bloodborne pathogens via this route is thought to be a major public health problem. In this article we report global and regional estimates of the number of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections that may occur from unsafe injections in the developing world. The estimates were determined using quantitative data on unsafe injection practices, transmission efficiency and disease burden of HBV, HCV and HIV and the prevalence of injection use obtained from a review of the literature. A simple mass-action model was used consisting of a generalized linear equation with variables accounting for the prevalence of a pathogen in a population, susceptibility of a population, transmission efficiency of the pathogen, proportion of injections that are unsafe, and the number of injections received. The model was applied to world census data to generate conservative estimates of incidence of transmission of bloodborne pathogens that may be attributable to unsafe injections. The model suggests that approximately 8-16 million HBV, 2.3-4.7 million HCV and 80,000-160,000 HIV infections may result every year from unsafe injections. The estimated range for HBV infections is in accordance with several epidemiological studies that attributed at least 20% of all new HBV infections to unsafe injections in developing countries. Our results suggest that unsafe injections may lead to a high number of infections with bloodborne pathogens. A major initiative is therefore needed to improve injection safety and decrease injection overuse in many countries.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Hepat Res Treat
                Hepat Res Treat
                HEPRT
                Hepatitis Research and Treatment
                Hindawi Publishing Corporation
                2090-1364
                2090-1372
                2014
                12 November 2014
                : 2014
                : 131920
                Affiliations
                1Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology Departments, Syrian Private University, P.O. Box 36822, Damascus, Syria
                2Internal Medicine Department, Syrian Private University, Mazzeh Street, P.O. Box 36822, Damascus, Syria
                Author notes

                Academic Editor: Piero Luigi Almasio

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5165-2354
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6076-3307
                Article
                10.1155/2014/131920
                4244916
                25478218
                edfda354-16e3-48f4-9b0a-5ce80335651d
                Copyright © 2014 N. Ibrahim and A. Idris.

                This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 16 May 2014
                : 23 October 2014
                : 23 October 2014
                Categories
                Research Article

                Infectious disease & Microbiology
                Infectious disease & Microbiology

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