Prevalence of Infectious Diseases in the Homeless Admitted to a Tertiary Care Center

Ham, Se Woon; Nam, Kee Suk; Noh, Hye Jin; Hong, Kyung Deuk; Hwang, Lae Seok; Bang, Ji Hwan; Shin, Hyoung Shik

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite the expected high prevalence of several infectious diseases among the homeless, a majority of them have not received screening test and early treatment.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The subjects of this study were 269 homeless patients who had been hospitalized in the National Medical Center (Korea) between January 2002 and August 2004. Their medical histories and records were reviewed to analyze the prevalence and clinical characteristics of hepatitis B and C, syphilis, tuberculosis and HIV infection among them.
RESULTS
The entire 269 homeless patients being hospitalized during the period of this study consist of 249 male patients and 19 female patients. For the prevalence of infectious diseases, HBV was seen in 15 of 228 patients (6.6%); HCV in 8 of 113 patients (7.1%); VDRL positive in 25 of 234 patients (10.7 %); HIV antibody positive in 2 of 130 (1.5%); and tuberculosis in 19 of 269 (7.1%). The number of patients who had the antibody to hepatitis B was 118 (51.7%). Of 28 patients hospitalized with the chief complaints of liver diseases and/or their complications, the number of cases infected with hepatitis B and C viruses was only 5 (17.9%). On the other hand, for patients with tuberculosis, 13 of 19 cases (68.4%) were hospitalized with the chief complaints associated with symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis or enlarged lymph nodes. The number of patients with multiple infectious diseases was 9 in total.
CONCLUSION
As expected, the prevalence of some infectious diseases were higher among the homeless inpatients, than non-homeless population. Proper screening tests in order to determine the presence of any infectious diseases among the patients and protect involved medical staff are necessary. Further, the government should take proactive measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the aspect of public health.