Sero-prevalence of hepatitis-c virus among blood donors in northern Pakistan

Abstract

HCV is a hepatotropic single strained positive sense RNA virus belongs to family Flaviviridae. HCV is worldwide distributed virus affects about 185 million peoples as a result it causes 500,000 deaths per year. In Pakistan 5-6% of individuals are infected with HCV while in blood donors this ratio varies from 1.05-3.24 in different region of Pakistan. In Peshawar sero-prevalence of HCV was 4 percent. This study focuses on the actual status of HCV among blood donors at district Mardan and to compare the findings with previous study and shows the differences. The data were collected in MMC-MTI Mardan from January 2019 to May 2019. Through CMIA (by architect 1000i) methods the quantitative detection of anti-HCV antibodies takes place and 625 samples diagnosed through EIA methods, in which 9 were positive to HCV antibodies. Overall sero-prevalence of HCV positive donors is 1.44% and high prevalence were founded in the male which was (1.45%), rural area (1.95%), illiterate donors (2.08%), married donors (2.20%), donors belong to lower class economic status (2.21%), 1st time donors (1.72%) and age group 38-47 (3.64%) were positive to HCV. The risk factors of HCV transmission are IVD use, unscreened blood transfusion, contaminated surgical instruments and shaving in barber shop. The findings of this study show that the sero-prevalence of HCV increased 0.24% from 2018 among blood donors at district Mardan. It was recommended that more studies required to explore the seroprevalance of HCV in other cities of Pakistan.