Methods of disposal of used syringes by hepatitis B and C patients at an urban and rural setting.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the methods of disposal of used syringes employed by patients with hepatitis B and hepatitis C. METHODS: This cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital of Karachi and a clinic at Khairpur, Sindh. Diagnosed cases of Hepatitis B and C currently receiving treatment in the form of Interferon alpha injection were included by convenient sampling. The study instrument was a well structured questionnaire meant to ascertain the disposal methods of used syringes once they had been employed for treatment purpose. Open-epi sample size calculator (Multi-purpose statistical software for calculation of the sample size) and SPSS 15.0 was used for data entry and analysis. RESULTS: A total of 203 patients were interviewed, 147 from Karachi and 56 from interior. The majority i.e. 164 were suffering from Hepatitis C, 27 from Hepatitis B and 2 were co-infected with Hepatitis B and D. The mean age of patients was 35.8 +/- 11.5 years. Regarding disposal of injections, the most frequent mode was disposal of used syringes in house trash i.e. 71 (37.4%), patients 46 (24.2%) responded that they utilized a needle cutter, 37 (19.5%) safety box (disposal method in tertiary hospitals where the needle is disposed off safely in a box), 12 (6.3%) disposed in sewage, 3 (1.6%) disposal in water, 3 (1.6%) buried the used syringes, while 2 (1.1%) reused the syringe and needle once they had been used for therapeutic purposes. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that the injection practices by the majority of patients suffering from viral hepatitis were unsafe. Majority of the patients were disposing the used syringes and needles in the house trash.