Frequency of Hepatitis C Virus in People with Tattoos in Diyala Governorate

Abstract

Hepatitis C Virus remains a significant risk worldwide. Tattooing is one of the routes of transmission of
infection from an infected person to another. Tattooing is a method of injection of exogenous pigments into
the dermis to produce a permanent design. The study aims to detect the frequency of HCV in people with
tattoos in the Diyala governorate Iraq. A cross-sectional study was done in the period from 1st October
2020 until 15th February 2021 in Baquba teaching hospital (premarital screening program, and periodic
examination of hairdressing salons within the preventive health affairs and consulting clinic). The study
including 100 patients (43 were male and 57 female) aged from (10-65 years old). After the preparation of
samples, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was performed to detect hepatitis C virus
antibodies (IgG). The results of this study showed that the frequency of Hepatitis C Virus 17% (17 out of
100) with highly significant differences (p< 0.05), for age group HCV positivity, constituted the highest
percentage rate of age groups between (31-40 years old) followed by (21-30 years old) with a percentage
(58.8% and 41.2%) respectively with no significant differences between age groups and Hepatitis C virus
infection on study population (p> 0.05). Depending on the gender, it was found that males with HCV formed
the highest percentage rate (76.50%) compared to females (23.50%), with highly significant differences (p>
0.05). Depending on the education level, it was found the secondary graduated had a higher incidence of
HCV (52.9%) compared to primary and college graduates (41.2%) with no significant differences (p> 0.05)
while for the diseases, it was found that people without diseases formed the highest percentage rate of tattoo
carriers (64.9%) as compared to the presence of diseases with significant differences (p> 0.05). This study
concludes that HCV is transmitted by tattoos, especially not recommended centres, and in salons lacking the
minimum hygienic requirements.