Frequency of Hepatitis C Virus in People with Tattoos in Diyala Governorate

Abstract

Hepatitis C Virus remains a significant risk worldwide. Tattooing is one of the routes of transmission of infection from an infected person to another. Tattooing is a method of injection of exogenous pigments into the dermis to produce a permanent design. The study aims to detect the frequency of HCV in people with tattoos in the Diyala governorate Iraq. A cross-sectional study was done in the period from 1st October 2020 until 15th February 2021 in Baquba teaching hospital (premarital screening program, and periodic examination of hairdressing salons within the preventive health affairs and consulting clinic). The study including 100 patients (43 were male and 57 female) aged from (10-65 years old). After the preparation of samples, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was performed to detect hepatitis C virus antibodies (IgG). The results of this study showed that the frequency of Hepatitis C Virus 17% (17 out of 100) with highly significant differences (p< 0.05), for age group HCV positivity, constituted the highest percentage rate of age groups between (31-40 years old) followed by (21-30 years old) with a percentage (58.8% and 41.2%) respectively with no significant differences between age groups and Hepatitis C virus infection on study population (p> 0.05). Depending on the gender, it was found that males with HCV formed the highest percentage rate (76.50%) compared to females (23.50%), with highly significant differences (p> 0.05). Depending on the education level, it was found the secondary graduated had a higher incidence of HCV (52.9%) compared to primary and college graduates (41.2%) with no significant differences (p> 0.05) while for the diseases, it was found that people without diseases formed the highest percentage rate of tattoo carriers (64.9%) as compared to the presence of diseases with significant differences (p> 0.05). This study concludes that HCV is transmitted by tattoos, especially not recommended centres, and in salons lacking the minimum hygienic requirements.