Fida Hussain Shaikh, Hakim Ali Abro, Mumtaz Ali Chhutto, Parvez Ahmed Abbasi, Abdul Wahab Shaikh, Sheeraz Ali Buriro.
Hepatitis C: frequency and risk factors associated with sero-positivity among adults in Larkana city.
J Ayub Med Coll Abottabad Jan ;21(2):107-9.

Background: Viral hepatitis is a major public health problem. Infection with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) leads to chronicity and there are about 170 million people infected with HCV. Up to 70% of chronically infected individuals develop active liver disease. The Objective of the study was to find out the frequency of Anti-HCV seropositivity and risk factors of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) transmission in people of Larkana city. Method: The study was conducted at Larkana from April 2006 to April 2007. Camps were established in the main general practitioners’ clinics. A questionnaire about knowledge of HCV and risk factors of its transmission was administered to subjects. Descriptive statistics were done by SPSS-10. Result: Total 450 cases were enrolled into this study. They were divided into 3 age groups. Eighty-nine (19.8%) cases were in age group <20 years, 262 (58.2%) were in age group 20–40 years and 99 (22.0%) were in age group >40 years. There were 353 (78.4%) male and 97 (21.6%) female subjects, out of these 450 cases 30 (6.6%) were positive for Anti-HCV. A number of risk factors of HCV transmission were present in these cases. History of therapeutic injections was present in 72 cases and 35 cases used public barber services. Conclusion: History of therapeutic injections and use of barber services for shave were the most frequent risk factors in our study.

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