Surveillance of HIV, Hepatitis B Virus, and Hepatitis C Virus in an Estonian Injection Drug–Using Population: Sensitivity and Specificity of Testing Syringes for Public Health Surveillance | Zendy

Anneli Uusküla | Zendy; Robert Heimer | Zendy; Jack DeHovitz | Zendy; Krista Fischer | Zendy; LouiseAnne McNutt | Zendy

Open Access

Surveillance of HIV, Hepatitis B Virus, and Hepatitis C Virus in an Estonian Injection Drug–Using Population: Sensitivity and Specificity of Testing Syringes for Public Health Surveillance

Author(s) -

Anneli Uusküla,

Robert Heimer,

Jack DeHovitz,

Krista Fischer,

LouiseAnne McNutt

Publication year - 2006

Publication title -

the journal of infectious diseases

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.69

H-Index - 252

eISSN - 1537-6613

pISSN - 0022-1899

DOI - 10.1086/499436

Subject(s) - virology , hepatitis c virus , medicine , public health , population , hepatitis c , drug , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , injection drug use , public health surveillance , hepatitis b virus , virus , hepatitis b , environmental health , drug injection , pathology , pharmacology

Surveillance of bloodborne infections among injection drug users (IDUs) can be accomplished by determining the presence of pathogen markers in used syringes. Parallel testing of returned syringes and venous blood from IDUs was conducted to detect antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Syringe surveillance for HIV yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 92% and 89%, respectively, and provided a reasonable estimate of the prevalence of HIV among participants. Because sensitivity for HBV (34%) and HCV (55%) was low, syringe testing may be useful for surveillance of hepatitis over time but not for estimation of prevalence.

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