HBV, HCV, HIV & TB Prevalence in Injection Drug Users in Major Cities of Punjab, Pakistan- a Survey-Based Research Report

High prevalence of various infectious diseases including but not limited to HCV, HBV and HIV alongside TB in Pakistani population indicates there must be similarly high prevalence of these, if not higher, amongst (intravenous drug users) IDUs serve as a reservoir for infectious diseases, blood borne as well as others due to injection abuse, poor hygiene and bad quality of life. This continues to be a serious threat in spreading out of these diseases, decreased health quality of the society and increased death rate. This survey study was conducted to check the prevalence of HCV, HBV, HIV and TB in several drug rehabilitation centers in Punjab region of Pakistan. 78 centers were either visited or contacted via phone and 21 out of them cooperated to share their data. An analysis of respondent centers returned useable data revealed that only 7.2% patient were found positive for Hepatitis B. While, 33.23% patients were positive for HCV, 8.74% patients were positive for HIV and 0.87% were positive for TB. What is worrisome is the absence of proper periodic screenings for these as well as other potential infections. Also we found out that upon diagnosis of these diseases mostly rehabilitation centers refuse admittance, which aggravates the problem further as well as leaves those IDUs and their families helpless, who are looking for it. Majority of the respondent centers, doctors, psychologists believed that the patients, partner of the patients and their immediate family members must be offered for infection screenings regularly.