Molecular epidemiology of hcv among health care workers of khyber pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

BackgroundStudies of the molecular epidemiology and risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) in health care workers (HCWs) of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region are scarce. Lack of awareness about the transmission of HCV and regular blood screening is contributing a great deal towards the spread of hepatitis C. This study is an attempt to investigate the prevalence of HCV and its possible association with both occupational and non-occupational risk factors among the HCWs of Peshawar.ResultsBlood samples of 824 HCWs, aged between 20-59 years were analysed for anti-HCV antibodies, HCV RNA and HCV genotypes by Immunochromatographic tests and PCR. All relevant information was obtained from the HCWs with the help of a questionnaire. The study revealed that 4.13% of the HCWs were positive for HCV antibodies, while HCV RNA was detected in 2.79% of the individuals. The most predominant HCV genotype was 3a and 2a.ConclusionA program for education about occupational risk factors and regular blood screening must be implemented in all healthcare setups of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in order to help reduce the burden of HCV infection.

Seroprevalence and risk factors for Hepatitis B and C among health care workers

“…In the current study, the prevalence of HCV infection among HCWs was 4.6%, similar to the 5% HCV prevalence reported in Georgia among 1600 HCWs 12 and higher than those reported by similar studies conducted in developed as well as developing countries [13][14][15][16][17][18] which range from 0.6%-3%. This may reflect inadequate adherence of the current study's HCWs to infection control standards.…”

Prevalence of Hepatitis C infection in young adults of district Bannu

“…The most frequent genotype of HCV circulating was 3a 45%, followed by unknown genotype 20%; HCV genotype with 3b 20%, with 2a 10% and 1a 5%.The HCV genotype 1a, 4a, 5a, 6a and 2b were not observed among the 20 studied cases. In the present study the HCV genotype observed in some respect varies from the previous study, but common finding was that the most common genotype (45%) was 3a, while previously Hakim et al, 2008, Idrees and, and Ahmad et al, 2010, have reported it as 51%, 49.05% and 55.09% respectively [36,37,38,39]..…”

A Review of Hepatitis C in the General Population in Pakistan

“…Unfortunately, low literacy level, inadequate public health facilities and lack of awareness are main reasons behind insufficiency of significant data about the high incidence of the disease in Pakistan. Several studies have reported various HCV infection rates in different geographical areas and ethnic groups in Pakistan (25,26,36,64). In this review, we investigated more than twenty articles on the prevalence of HCV in the country published recently in national and international journals ( Table 1).…”

“…Limited studies have been conducted in Pakistan which demonstrated an increased rate of co-infection with hepatitis C and hepatitis B virus (HBV), thalassemia and tuberculosis. HBV and HCV co-infection mostly occur in HBV endemic areas, thus, dual infection in Pakistan has been studied by different research groups (64,86,93). Injection drug users (IDU's) have highest rate of HCV and HBV co-infection (69).…”