THE PREVALENCE OF HBV, HCV AND HIV INFECTIONS IN IMMIGRANTS AND ASSOCIATED RISKS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY IN BANIWALID – LIBYA

Abstract

Since 2011, the number of illegal immigrants has dramatically increased from African counties to Libya, where they prepare for their journey through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Before migration, they stay for a period of time and work in Libyan cities and may contact the local community through various means. BaniWalid is a small city with a population of 120,000, receives thousands of immigrants every month, the majority of them come from countries known with endemic diseases. The study was carried out during the period from March to June 2016, with the help of Baniwalid healthcare office and non-governmental foreigners’ registration office in BaniWalid. Blood samples of 1511 immigrants from 24 nationalities were tested for infectious diseases including HBV, HCV and HIV using Rapid test kit and positive results were confirmed by ELISA. The aim of this work was to find out the prevalence in immigrants and associated risk for local community. The study found high prevalence of HBV and the results were 6.68%, 3.51% and 0.967% positive for HBV, HCV and HIV respectively. The prevalence of infection rate for each nationality was established to find the high risk group. The finding indicates that the increased contact with immigrants will represent high risks for the local community. The paper suggests that Libyan health service providers must think differently and focus on educating local community about prevention, transmission, symptoms, treatment and control of infectious diseases as the first line of defense.