Prevalence of hepatitis B, C, and HIV among patients attending a teaching dental hospital: A 7-year retrospective study from the United Arab Emirates

OBJECTIVES: To determine the seroprevalence and case characteristics of hepatitis B, C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and their transmissibility from patients to dental personnel following percutaneous and mucocutaneous injuries. METHODS: All incidents of sharp and splash injuries reported between January 2010 and January 2017 were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were calculated using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Prevalence was calculated as percentages, and chi-square test was used to assess categorical variables where a p-value of ≤0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Among the 436 reported incidents, 372 patients underwent serological screening. Fourteen patients (3.8%) had antibodies against hepatitis C virus, and 8 patients (2.2%) were positive for hepatitis B surface antigens. All positive cases were clinically asymptomatic. There were no positive cases for HIV. Three of the 14 hepatitis C positive patients were actively infectious upon polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, but none of the injured dental personnel seroconverted upon a 6-month follow up. Approximately 88% of dental personnel were vaccinated against hepatitis B. Female personnel showed better vaccination rate by comparison to male personnel (p=0.005). Among the 5 different categories of professional status, cleaners showed a significantly low hepatitis B vaccination rate (p<0.000). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of hepatitis B and C is higher than that previously reported from the United Arab Emirates, but transmissibility of viral hepatitis seems to be negligible.