Frequency and risk factors of bloodborne infectious diseases among informal solid waste handlers: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: To determine the frequency and risk factors of bloodborne infectious diseases among informal solid waste handlers. Study Design: Cross-sectional Analytical study. Setting: Marghzar Colony, Lahore, Pakistan. Period: October to November 2019. Material & Methods: Convenience enrollment of 101 informal solid waste handlers out of total 150 invited subjects resulted in a response rate of 67.3%. A predesigned proforma was administered to collect demographic and clinical information. Whole blood specimen collected for subsequent screening of hepatitis B, hepatitis C & human immunodeficiency virus by rapid immune-chromatographic technique. Crosstabs analysis performed to calculate the odds ratios for bloodborne infectious diseases and chi square test used to find the association between risk factors and bloodborne infectious diseases. Results: Mean age of study population was 31.9±12.8 years. Participation of females 65.3% was higher than males 34.7%. Overall 4.0% frequency of bloodborne infectious diseases included 2.0% hepatitis B and 2.0% hepatitis C. None of the respondents had HIV or co-infection of hepatitis B and C. Frequency of those who collected waste from clinical sites was 6.0%, who received sharps injuries (100.0%), and who never used personal protective equipment (100.0%). Gender male [OR=6.094; 95.0% CI, 0.609–60.927], smoking [OR=5.056; 95.0% CI, 0.454–56.245], and waste collection from clinical site [OR=6.133; 95.0% CI, 0.537–70.057] showed a higher risk of bloodborne infectious diseases. Conclusion: The proportions of hepatitis, sharps injuries and not using personal protective equipment were high among informal solid waste handlers. Waste collection from clinical sites showed higher risk of occupational transmission of hepatitis.