HEPATITIS C

FREQUENCY OF COMMON FACTORS FOR TRANSMISSION IN ADULT PATIENTS

Abstract

Introduction: WHO estimates that there are more than 185 million people over
the globe infected with hepatitis C. Among these 350,000 die each year with hepatitis. He
prevalence of hepatitis in Asia is estimated to be 3.4%. Pakistan has been rated as the second
most common country in the world with active hepatitis C infection. This study aims at identifying
the frequency of risk factors for hepatitis C irus transmission. Understanding the frequency of
common factors of HCV would help to implement strategies in long-term prevention of hepatitis
transmission among community. Objectives: To determine the frequency of common factors
for transmission of hepatitis C in adult patients. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional
study. Setting: Department of Medicine, Saidu Teaching Center, Swat. Period: 01-01-2016 to
01-12-2016. Methodology: 140 patients were observed and evaluated. Detailed medical history
was taken.5 ml of venous blood sample was collected under aseptic conditions. Blood was
centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 5 minutes and serum was transferred to separate test tubes for further
testing. The initial screening was carried out by immunochromatography for the qualitative detection
HCV antibodies in serum or plasma. Output variable was stratified among age and
gender. Chi square test was applied to see effect of modification. All the positive samples on
ICT were tested on ELISA (third generation) with signal-to-cut-off ratio > 1.0 for confirmation.
Results: Our study shows that mean age was 45 years with SD ± 12.24. Fifty eight percent
patients were male and 42% patients were female. Forty two percent patients had hepatitis C
due to Injection, infection and-* /transfusions, surgical scars were present in 23% patients with
hepatitis C, (2%) patients with hepatitis C had tattoos, 8% patients had hepatitis C due to nose/
ear piercing and 25% patients had hepatitis C due to dental procedures. Conclusion: Our study
concludes that the most common risk factors responsible for transmitting hepatitis C in adults
were infections/transfusions (42%) followed by dental procedures (25%) and surgical scars
(23%).