percutaneous injuries and transmission of hiv among cases referred for post exposure prophylaxis to razi hospital in ahvaz, a city in the southwest iran

conclusions although nurses are the most involved occupational group in documented ns, surgeons are the most important high risk hcw who need pep. no case of seroconversion has taken place as a result of pi. this means that the current pep may have an effective role in hiv prevention. results from a total of 369 cases, 273 (74%) were hcws, among which nurses (70%) were the most involved employees, followed by surgeons (18.3%) and lab workers (8.4%). fifty five cases (14.9%) were accidental needle stick (ns) and 41 (11.1%) were victims. among hcws, 38 (13.8%) were injured by needles soiled with hiv infected bloods. only 105 (28.4%) needed pep, among which 92 (87.6%), including 50 surgeons, 21 nurses and 18 lab workers were hcw. the results of hiv tests in all cases were negative. background health care workers (hcws) and public in iran may be at the risk of percutaneous injury (pi) as well as infection with human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). objectives the aim of this study was to evaluate the pi and transmission of hiv infection in pi cases referred to an hiv preventive focal point unit. patients and methods in this prospective study, 369 pi cases who had referred to razi hospital of ahvaz, from 1993 to 2008 were studied. pi cases were placed in three groups: occupational (hcws), accidental (children) and victims of a crime (women). the data including demographic, occupational, pi incidence place, post-exposure prophylaxis (pep) and follow-up tests for hiv infection were analyzed in spss 16 using chi square test.