HEPATITIS C: FREQUENCY AND RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH SERO-POSITIVITY AMONG ADULTS IN LARKANA CITY

Authors

  • Fida Hussain Shaikh
  • Hakim Ali Abro
  • Mumtaz Ali Chhutto
  • Parvez Ahmed Abbasi
  • Abdul Wahab Shaikh
  • Sheeraz Ali Buriro

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 tofind 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 April2006 to April 2007. Camps were established in the main general practitioners’ clinics. Aquestionnaire about knowledge of HCV and risk factors of its transmission was administered tosubjects. Descriptive statistics were done by SPSS-10. Result: Total 450 cases were enrolled intothis study. They were divided into 3 age groups. Eighty-nine (19.8%) cases were in age group <20years, 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 thesecases. History of therapeutic injections was present in 72 cases and 35 cases used public barberservices. Conclusion: History of therapeutic injections and use of barber services for shave werethe most frequent risk factors in our study.Keywords: Risk factors, HCV, Sero-positivity, Hepatitis, Cirrhosis, Hepatocellular Carcinoma

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Published

2009-06-01

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 2 (2009): JOURNAL OF AYUB MEDICAL COLLEGE, ABBOTTABAD

Section

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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