Background: Universal precautions, as defined by centers for disease control (CDC), are a set of precautions designed to prevent transmission of human immunodeficiency virus , hepatitis B virus , and other blood borne pathogens when providing first aid or health care .
Objectives: To measure knowledge of and practice towards universal precautions among healthcare workers (apart from doctors) in Baghdad Teaching Hospital .
Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the period of two months from 26th of February to the end of April 2007 in Baghdad Teaching Hospital / Medical City ,Baghdad to assess the knowledge and practice of 110 health care workers towards the use of universal preca

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major etiological agents causing acute and chronic liver disease worldwide with significant morbidity and mortality. The high genetic variability of HBV is reflected by eight genotypes (A to H), each with a particular geographical prevalence.
Objectives: The study was conducted to find out HBV genotypes in chronic hepatitis B- (CHB) carriers in association with serological markers of HBV.
Methods: This work was carried on from March to, December 2012 in Duhok/Iraq and enrolled 134 HBsAg positive carrier cases. recruited to Central Public Health Lab. Specific primers PCR technique was used to detect HBV genotypes. The carrier cases were screened for markers of HBV infection by Enzyme

Background: Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening liver infection which is caused by the hepatitis B virus. Universal testing of hepatitis B virus of pregnant women already occurs in many parts of the world, but still suboptimal in resource-limited settings.
Objectives: To find the seroprevalence of hepatitis B s antigen in pregnant women visiting primary health care centers in Baghdad Al-Jadeda health sector that belongs to Baghdad Al-Rusafa health directorate and to determine the effect of some social and obstetrical factors in the infected women.
Patients and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study carried on 6975 records of pregnant women visited primary health care centers from 1st of January 2016 to 30th of Jun

Background: Diabetes is a chronic illness that requires continuing medical care to prevent acute complications and to reduce the risk of long-term complication. Eye
diseases are the most feared complication of diabetes. The main disorders include diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and glaucoma. Early detection of these conditions is
important to avoid risk of vision affection or even blindness.
Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors for eye problems among 20-65 years old diabetics' patients.
Methods: We studied 2540 diabetic patients selected from the Specialized Center for Endocrinology & Diabetes and the National Center for Treatment & Research of
Diabetes in Al-Mu

Hepatitis B is an inflammation of the liver that caused by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) which is DNA virus that infects the human and some kinds of animals such as chimpanzees and birds. This disease considered as the major disease of mankind and a serious global public health problem. HBsAg, HBeAg, HBcAb, HBeAb and HBsAb are markers used to detect the presence and the stage of infection. The current study included (181) individuals from both sexes, (137) males and (44) females. By ratio 3.11: 1.The mean age of patients 2.4033 ± 0.83519 (range 18-73) years as follows < 20 (11.6%), 21–40 (47.5%), 41–60 (29.8%) and > 60 (11.0%) . These patients are 73 (40.4%) Blood donors from Central Blood Bank, 88 (48.6%) Chronic kidney failure at Ibn –

Background: This study was carried out from first of June 2008 till first of June 2009 at thallassemia center Diyala governorate on families who have more than one affected member with thalassemia and other member who also gives positive results for hepatitis C infection in addition to the index (infected) case.
Material and methods: The study sample includes (13) families with (13) index cases who test positive for anti-hepatitis C antibody. Each family have at least two patients with thalassemia, the overall number is (29).
Results: This study reveals that 76.92% (10 families) have at least one more member in the same family who also test positive for anti-hepatitis C antibody. Prevalence after exclu

Objective: To determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among blood donors and risky population in Diyala province.<br />Materials and methods: In this retrospective study, the records of HCV screening and confirmatory tests were reviewed for the period 1996-2001.Third generation Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and Enzyme immunoblot assay were used as screening and confirmatory tests respectively.<br />Results: The prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors was 0.15%, with the highest in 1997. The highest prevalence rates were found among multiple blood recipient; hemophilia, thalassemia and hemodialysis patients (27.3%, 16.9% & 14.3%) respectively. Whereas, the patients with chronic hepa

the association between celiac disease and viral infection

Two groups of chronic hepatitis B and C virus patients were divided into Pre-treated patients (25 CHB patients with positive HBs Ag for more than 6 months and 40 CHC patients), and post-treated patients [12 CHB patients (4, 6, and 2 were treated with lamivudine, IFN-? and combination of LMV + IFN-? respectively), and 27 patients for CHC (3, 13 and 11 patients were treated with Ribavirin, IFN-? and combination therapy (RBV+ IFN-?) respectively].These patients were followed up for 6 months. By using ELISA technique, levels of IL-6, IL-10, IFN-? and TNF-? were measured in vivo and in vitro (supernatant of PBMCs stimulated with PHA) and compared with healthy control. The mean level of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-? in CHB patients showed significant dif

To determine the relationship between chronic hepatitis B virus and autoimmune celiac disease, seventy five patients with chronic hepatitis B virus of ages (8-70) years have been investigated and compared with 50 healthy individuals. All the studied groups were carried out to measure antiGliadin antibodies IgA and IgG by ELISA test and anti-reticulin antibodies IgA and IgG by IFAT. There were significant elevation (P<0.05) in the concentration of AGA IgA and IgG antibodies compared to control group. The prevalence of AGA antibodies IgA and IgG was 8% and 9.33% respectively. There were a highly significant differences (P<0.01) between studies groups. The prevalence of antireticulin antibodies ARA IgA and IgG was 6.67% and 4.0% respectively i