A cross sectional serological study of the co-infection of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus amongst a cohort of IDUs at Delhi.

A cross-sectional study was undertaken to find out co-prevalence of various infectious markers like Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Syphilis infection amongst a cohort of injecting drug users (IDUs) in the city of Delhi. A total of 246 IDUs were enrolled during the 3 months period of the study. The results revealed a high prevalence of the viral markers studied i.e., HBV-39.59%, HCV-36.45%, HIV-36.99% and Syphilis-6.09%. A single marker infection was detected amongst 9.14% for HBV, 8.37% for HCV, 4.87% for HIV and 0.83% for Syphilis in samples tested for multiple markers. All the four markers could be detected in 1.76%. Amongst 11.16% and 27.9% of these samples, three and two markers respectively could be detected. The study revealed the problem of IV drug use and high prevalence of infectious markers including HIV in certain populations of Delhi and emphasizes the need for relevant interventions in these localised pockets.