Seroepidemiological Study of Hepatitis EVirus in Drug Addicts in Ahvaz, Southern Iran: 2005-2006

Background and aims: poor personal health in drug addicts predisposes them to hepatitis e virus (hev) infection. theobjective of this study was to determine the prevalence of antibody to hev (hev- igg) and evaluate epidemiologicalfeatures of hev infection among drug addicts.methods: 224 drug addicts were included in this analytic descriptive study in ahvaz, southern iran, from 2005 to 2006.after a through physical examination and completing a questionnaire,s ml blood was obtained from each case andtested for anti-hev-igg by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) method using commercial kit (dia-prob).data were analyzed in spss 11.5 using chi-square test.results: of 228 cases, 35 (13.5%) were hev-igg positive. the sero-prevalence of positive hev-igg in injecting,inhalant and oral drug abusers was 22.8%, 9.1%, and 6.2%, respectively (p)less than)0.05). hev-igg was positive in heroin,crack, and opiate abusers with a rate of 20.2% , 10.90/ 0, and 11.6% , respectively. the sero-prevalence of positive heviggin the prison and addiction treatment center was 15.8%, and 13.3%, respectively (p(greater than)0.05).conclusions: drug addiction is associated with an increased risk of exposure to hev and resulted in the high prevalenceof anti-hev-igg in addicts.