Mohammad Aslam, Naeem Mumtaz, Abdul Majid, Mohammad Tahir, Obaid Ullah.
Magnitude of HCV burden in plastic surgery patients.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;42(3):112-5.

Objective: to assess the prevalence rate of HCV infection in plastic surgery patients and to identify the associated risk factors. Study design: it is a descriptive study. Place and duration: Plastic surgery unit Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. January 2002 to june 2003. Results: During the study period of one and half year 1382 patients were admitted and screened for HCV. Of these 42 (3.04%) patients were HCV positive. Gender and age were not found to be the risk factors. Previous surgery, especially emergency surgery for trauma, blood transfusion, dental treatment and parenteral injections had strong relationship to HCV infection. Conclusion: HCV infection is a serious challenge for our community health. As most patients become chronically infected, the problem is surely going to increase in near future. Treatment being expensive, less effective and toxic, prevention of infection remains the mainstay of management. Universal precautions against HCV infection during the surgical procedures and perioperatively during wound care should be mandatory to prevent nosocomial infection and for safety of health care workers. Improvement in health care system is urgently needed.

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