HEPATITIS C: FREQUENCY AND RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH SERO-POSITIVITY AMONG ADULTS IN LARKANA CITY
Abstract
Background: Viral hepatitis is a major public health problem. Infection with Hepatitis C virus(HCV) leads to chronicity and there are about 170 million people infected with HCV. Up to 70%
of chronically infected individuals develop active liver disease. The Objective of the study was to
find out the frequency of Anti-HCV seropositivity and risk factors of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)
transmission in people of Larkana city. Method: The study was conducted at Larkana from April
2006 to April 2007. Camps were established in the main general practitioners' clinics. A
questionnaire about knowledge of HCV and risk factors of its transmission was administered to
subjects. Descriptive statistics were done by SPSS-10. Result: Total 450 cases were enrolled into
this study. They were divided into 3 age groups. Eighty-nine (19.8%) cases were in age group <20
years, 262 (58.2%) were in age group 20-40 years and 99 (22.0%) were in age group >40 years.
There were 353 (78.4%) male and 97 (21.6%) female subjects, out of these 450 cases 30 (6.6%)
were positive for Anti-HCV. A number of risk factors of HCV transmission were present in these
cases. History of therapeutic injections was present in 72 cases and 35 cases used public barber
services. Conclusion: History of therapeutic injections and use of barber services for shave were
the most frequent risk factors in our study.
Keywords: Risk factors, HCV, Sero-positivity, Hepatitis, Cirrhosis, Hepatocellular Carcinoma
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