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Doctors at risk of hepatitis B and HIV infection from patients in Nigeria

The aim of this study was to assess the degree of residents' concern about acquiring hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection from their patients at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. We surveyed 149 resident doctors. The response was 89%. Nine per cent of the resident doctors reported percutaneous exposures to needles contaminated with blood of patients infected with HBV or HIV. Eighty per cent of the residents experienced moderate to major concern about contracting these viral infections from their patients. The majority of the doctors (54-64%) indicated that they should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to treat the infected patients. A substantial proportion of them (46-49% ) believed that refusing to take care of the patient was not unethical. About 86-96% of the doctors believed that the hospital as well as the Residency Training Programme administrators were not concerned about the risk of acquiring the viruses from their patients. In general, the results demonstrate a major degree of concern about acquiring HBV and HIV infections among resident doctors. Moreover, there is a need for the hospital and Residency Training Programme administrators to formally address these concerns so as to motivate well and reassure these doctors. No such study exists that exclusively address this important and topical subject in doctors in tropical Africa.