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. 2025 Jul 1;25(1):869.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-025-11240-7.

Risk factors and prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Syphilis, among prisoners in Duhok city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Masood Abdulkareem Abdulrahman  1 , Farhad Ismail Shahab  2 , Ibrahim Mohammed Abdullah  3 , Arazoo Issa Tahir  2 , Bland Bayar Khaleel  2 , Nazik Abdulraheem Abdulkarim  3
Affiliations

Risk factors and prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Syphilis, among prisoners in Duhok city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Masood Abdulkareem Abdulrahman et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: It is well recognized that jails are high-risk settings for the transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) like HIV and Syphilis. This study was done to detect the prevalence and risk factors of HIV and Syphilis among inmates.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among inmates in two main jails inside Duhok City. A total of 1033 inmates were investigated between January and February 2024. Participants filled out a personal risk factor questionnaire. Serum samples were tested for HIV1 + 2 and syphilis antibodies using a qualitative ELISA method.

Results: The average age of the participants was 35.9 ± 10.62 years, with a range of 13-82 years. Out of the 1013 prisoners, 963 (95.1%) were men. Ever married inmates constituted (66.34)%, and (56.1%) of the prisoners were urban dwellers. Regarding their nationality, almost all of the participants were Iraqis (97.0%). It was reported that 68.11% of individuals were self-employed, and 62.8% of them were smokers.Only six cases of Syphilis were detected among male inmates. So, the prevalence rate was 0.59%. Four cases were above 51 years. Age groups were significantly (P =.001) associated with Syphilis cases, while there was no significant statistical association with other demographic characteristics (sex P =.850, residency P =.990, nationality = 0.165, extramarital status P =.187, occupation P =.261), and there was no significant statistical association between infected intimates with all studied risk factors (drug abuse P =.990, homosexuality P =.470, extramarital sex P =.118, blood transfusion P =.990, surgical operations P =.425, tattooing P =.990. The prevalence of HIV was zero.

Conclusions: Inmates in Duhok City had a low prevalence rate of syphilis and no HIV infections were recorded. Since inmates are a vulnerable group that frequently enters and exits the general population, health data on this population is crucial.

Keywords: Duhok City; HIV; Prisons; Syphilis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was carried out in accordance with the ethical standards set out by the Declaration of Helsinki and in agreement with local institutional ethical guidelines. This study obtained approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the College of Health and Medical Technology-Shekhan/Duhok Polytechnic University, Medical Review ethics No. 09 (15 November, 2023). Informed consent to participate was obtained from all participants. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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