Seroprevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency viruses amongst drug users in Amritsar.

Drug addicts represent a high risk group for acquiring parenterally transmitted viral infections like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). It is very likely that an injecting drug user (IDU) infected with HIV will also be infected with HBV and/or HCV because of common high risk behaviours. Amritsar being border city, is a seat of international drug trafficking and the menace of drug addiction. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has 300 million carriers worldwide, carrier rate in the general population in India is 2-3% with an estimated 43 million carriers and antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV) are present in approximately 15 million with prevalence rate of 2%. There are 5.134 million HIV infected cases in India. HIV, HCV and HBV infections may promote each other and be related to needle sharing behaviour in drug users and to different other living habits.