Background: HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C are serious infections, but can be treated. The prognosis is much improved by earlier detection and treatment. Prevalence studies have shown that serious mental illness is a risk factor for blood-borne virus infection.
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of blood borne viral infection in people with psychological disorders attending Aswan Governate.
Patients and methods: This across sectional study included 180 patients (150 males and 30 females) with moderate to severe mental illness from the attendants of the Outpatient Clinic of Psychatric Department, Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Aswan Governorate, from May 2019 to November 2019. The etiological diagnosis of the studied group was schizophrenia (males=64, females=9), depression (males=30, females=9) and general anxiety disorder (males=16, females=6).
Results: As regard HCV Abs, there were 157 negative patients (87.2%) and 23 positive patients (12.8%) in the studied patients. As regard HBs Ag, there were 162 negative patients (90%), and 18 positive patients (10%) in the studied patients. As regard HIV Abs, there were 170 negative patients (94.4%), and 10 positive patients (5.6%) in the studied patients. There was no statistical significant relation between sex and virology markers in all studied patients (p-value > 0.05).
Conclusion: People with serious mental illness are at risk of blood-borne viral infections. Serious mental illness is unlikely to be a sole risk factor and risk of blood-borne viral infection is probably multifactorial, and associated with low socioeconomic status, drug and alcohol misuse, ethnic origin, and sex. Health providers should routinely discuss sexual health and risks for blood-borne viruses (including risks related to drug misuse) with people who have serious mental illness, as well as offering testing and treatment for those at risk.