Viral Hepatitis in Iranian Armed Forces: Prevalence of HBV and HCV in the Wounded-In-Action (WIA)

Abstract

Objective: Viral hepatitis remains a health threat to military forces. Most recently there has been concern about hepatitis C virus transmission during military service. Hepatitis B and C are the main causes of mortality and morbidity in military personnel. Methods: In this study, all WIAs of two corps of Revolutionary Guards of IR. Iran were checked for hepatitis B and C and liver function tests (LFT). A questionnaire was filled out for all WIAs, in which risk factors were asked. Results: In this study, 563 WIAs were enrolled. Mean age was 38.9±3.9. Mean rate of disability was 25.5%. HBsAg positive prevalence was 4.8% and anti-HCV was 0.7%. In anti-HCV positive group, 50% had elevated enzymes and in HBsAg positive WIAs, 30.4% had elevated enzymes. All of HCV positive WIAs had surgery as a risk factor (100%). Conclusions: Based on the prevalence of anti-HCV positive, which shows a 5.5 times increase in prevalence of HCV in our study group, we recommend HCV infection screening in WIAs.