Alqahtani Jobran M, Abu-Eshy Saeed A, Mahfouz Ahmed A, El-Mekki Awad A, Asaad Ahmed M
Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, P,O, Box 641, Saudi Arabia.
BMC Public Health. 2014 Jun 9;14:577. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-577.
The objectives of the study were to study the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among health college students (HS) and health care workers (HCWs) in the Najran Region of south-western Saudi Arabia and to study the students' knowledge of occupational exposure to blood-borne viral infections.
A cross-sectional study of a representative sample of 300 HS and 300 HCWs was conducted.
An overall seroprevalence of HBV of 1.7% and 8.7% was found among HS and HCWs, respectively. Two-thirds of HS (66.7%, 200) and 23.3% (70) of HCWs lack anti-HBs and are susceptible to HBV infection. An overall seroprevalence of HCV of 0% and 0.3% was found among the HS and HCWs, respectively. The present study indicates poor knowledge among HS and moderate knowledge among HCWs regarding occupationally transmitted blood-borne diseases, safe injection practices, and standard precautions to prevent occupationally transmitted blood-borne infections.
It is mandatory to develop a structured program to raise awareness among HS, and current health colleges' curricula should be upgraded to address these issues early. The HS should be considered new recruits to health services in terms of their initial screening for blood-borne infections and vaccination against HBV. The development of a novel continuing medical education and pre-employment awareness program for HCWs is recommended to address the following: blood-borne diseases transmitted occupationally, standard precautions to prevent occupationally transmitted blood borne infections, and safe injection practices.
本研究的目的是调查沙特阿拉伯西南部纳季兰地区健康大学生（HS）和医护人员（HCW）中乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染的血清流行率，并研究学生对职业性接触血源病毒感染的认知情况。
对300名健康大学生和300名医护人员的代表性样本进行了横断面研究。
在健康大学生和医护人员中，HBV的总体血清流行率分别为1.7%和8.7%。三分之二的健康大学生（66.7%，200人）和23.3%（70人）的医护人员缺乏乙肝表面抗体，易感染HBV。在健康大学生和医护人员中，HCV的总体血清流行率分别为0%和0.3%。本研究表明，健康大学生对职业传播的血源疾病、安全注射操作以及预防职业传播血源感染的标准预防措施的知识了解不足，医护人员的相关知识掌握程度中等。
必须制定一个结构化计划来提高健康大学生的认识，当前健康学院的课程应进行升级，以便尽早解决这些问题。就血源感染的初步筛查和HBV疫苗接种而言，应将健康大学生视为卫生服务的新入职人员。建议为医护人员制定一个新的继续医学教育和岗前培训计划，以解决以下问题：职业传播的血源疾病、预防职业传播血源感染的标准预防措施以及安全注射操作。
