Fouzia Ashraf, Amna Rasheed, Sajjad Ullah, Mahmood Shaukat.
HCV IN PUNJAB; Zonal molecular distribution.
Professional Med J Dec ;22(10):1268-72.

HCV is the foremost cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and its prevalence is increasing in developing countries like Pakistan. Present study is focusing on its frequency in different districts of the Punjab of Pakistan. Setting: Different districts of Punjab. Period: Jan 2010 to Dec 2010. Material and methods: 5ml venous blood was collected from each donor by using disposable syringes. Sample is transferred to vials containing anticoagulant, centrifuged and plasma was separated for further analysis.140 ul plasma of every patient was analyzed for HCV RNA Virus by Real time PCR using Artus HCV Quantification kit (Germany).For statistical analysis SPSS 16 was used. Results: A total count of 3262 samples was collected from 32 districts of the Punjab and all these samples were both rapid HCV screening and Anti HCV by Elisa positive. Out of which 2041 (62.57%) patients were detected positive for HCV, 1221 (37.4%) were not detected.49.5%patients were male while50.5% were female. 30.99% males were detected positive including patients with low viral load. 31.58% were detected positive for HCV including low positive female patients.30.71% females were detected positive for HCV, 37.5% were not detected for HCV. Conclusion: Highest prevalence of HCV among different age groups is found in age group of 36-40 years with 12.23% and lowest is found in age group > 15 years with 0.31% (p=0.009).

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