ANTI-HCV ANTIBODIES & HEPATITIS B SURFACE ANTIGEN;

摘要

O BJECTIVES: To assess prevalence of anti-HCV and Hepatitis B surface antigenaemia among rural population of Punjab-Pakistan. SUBJECT: 272 randomly selected healthy subjects irrespective of age and sex belonging to rural general population. METHODS: Anti-HCV and HbsAg tests were performed by immunofilteration technique. All the sera positive by this technique were confirmed by EIA method. Sera positive for anti-HCV were also analyzed for serum bilirubin and ALT levels. RESULTS: Out of 272 subjects, 35.5% were anti-HCV positive while 4% were HbsAg positive. Maximum positivity for anti-HCV was observed in age group 50 years or above (60.4%) followed by 40-49 years (40.9%). While the positivity was the lowest in the age group up to nine years (12.9%). No significant difference was observed between male and female subjects (34.5% and 37.1% anti- HCV positive respectively) Serum bilirubin was normal in 86.5% anti-HCV positive subjects while only 13.5% subjects showed slight elevation (<2 mg/dl). Among anti-HCV positive subjects 9.4% had normal ALT level while the rest had elevated ALT levels. It was also observed that 50.9% of the subjects with history of jaundice in the family and 46% subjects with history of sharing razors were anti-HCV positive. The other significant factors were history of hospitalization and blood transfusion. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high prevalence of HCV infection in rural population of Punjab. Hence there is a need for improving public awareness about the problem through information compaigns, screening of blood donors for anti- HCV and enforcement of safe injection practice laws.