Seroprevalence of viral biomarkers for ‘laboratory acquired infections’ (lai) between the staff of government and private sector laboratories in Hooghly and Burdwan district, West Bengal, India: a critical comparison

In a pathological laboratory worker may be infected from needle stick injury or by aerosol/droplet exposure of the mucous membranes of the eyes, noses, or mouth called laboratory acquired infections (LAI). To assess the risks of LAI a cross sectional study was performed during the period of 2007 to 2012 after getting ethical clearance. It included randomly selected twenty laboratories from ‘Hooghly’ district out of which twelve laboratories from government and eight laboratories from private sector and from ‘Burdwan’ district twenty two laboratories were included, where nine laboratories from government and thirteen laboratories from private sector. Those clinical laboratories were situated within five kilometer radius surrounding the district/sub-divisional/rural hospitals of ‘Hooghly’ and ‘Burdwan’ districts. Randomly selected 126 technical personnel were of choice. From each person one blood sample was collected for serologic detection of ‘Hepatitis B surface antigen’, ‘anti-Hepatitis C virus antibody’ and ‘anti HIV-1 & 2 Antibody’. By this way, sixty personnel (34 from government and 26 from private sector laboratories) from ‘Hooghly’ and sixty six personnel (27 from government and 39 from private sector laboratories) were included from ‘Burdwan’district. Results revealed that in ‘Hooghly’ district HBsAg (two cases), anti-HCV antibodies (one case) were found positive in government sector. In private sector positive reports were obtained in 1 case for each of HBsAg and anti-HCV Ab. The anti-HIV antibody was found negative for both the government and private laboratory personnel. For ‘Burdwan’ district, in government sector positivity were found for HBsAg 3.70%, anti-HCV antibody 3.70% out of total 27 laboratory personnel where as the anti-HIV antibody was found nil. In case of the private laboratories of the said district positivity rate for HBsAg was 2.56%, anti-HCV antibody 2.56% and anti-HIV antibody was found negative. Inter district comparison showed insignificant (p>0.05) variation in both government and private sectors laboratories for said factors. Risks of LAI can be minimized by introducing practice of standard precautions for bio-safety.