HEPATITIS C AND HEPATITIS B - VIRUS INFECTION IN INTRAVENOUS DRUG ADDICTS

nstravenous (IV) drug addict represent a group of high risk for infection by the hepatitis B (HB) and Hepatitis C (HC) virus. The aim of the paper is to determine the dominance of the HCV and HBV infection markers in the drug addict IV group as well as frequency of the joint HCV infection with different marker status of the HBV infection. The serological diagnosis of the HCV infection is made by the ELISA test of the 2nd generation for the antibody detection upon the structural antigen C22-3 and the non-structural antigen C200 Hepatitis C virus. Each serum is also tested for the HBV marker presence by the ELISA tests. In the group of 120 IV drug addicts in81,66% of persons the HCV infection markers are discovered while in 60% of the examined some of the HBV infection markers are revealed. Of 98 drug addicts with the HCV infection only the markers of the HCV infections are discovered in 39,8%, while in 60,20% of the drug addicts some of the HBV infection markers are discovered as well. In 6,12% drug addicts with the HCV infection the marker status of the HBV replication is also found. The Hbs antigenemia is found in 10,20% of the drug addicts with the HCV infection while the marker status of the previous contact with the HB virus is found in 43,87% of the IV drug addicts.